"We do have hard international borders to stop people coming in who aren't Australian"
Sunday 3 May 2020 22:29, UK
The Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan says there are "lots of obstacles" to the Premier League ending the season in Australia.
A report in the Sun on Sunday claimed authorities in Perth, west Australia, were open to the idea of accommodating the final 92 games of the season, after Sky Sports' Gary Neville had suggested playing under quarantine in a coronavirus-free country could be the best way to see the campaign out.
But one of the region's top politicians has cast doubts over the proposals and says it could put some of their citizens in danger.
"I haven't been formally contacted by the English Premier League. They haven't contacted my office, they haven't contacted me," the Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan said.
"We do have hard international borders to stop people coming in who aren't Australian. So, I'll look forward to any contact if they want to provide it to us, but I think there's a lot of obstacles in the way.
"Britain has very, very high rates of COVID-19 and they have had a lot of people die. You don't necessarily want to risk these things.
"As I said we'll have a look if any submission comes forward but I think it's a very, very big ask for that to happen here."
The Premier League have said failing to finish this season would cost its 20 clubs more than £1billion
Premier League clubs remain committed to finishing the current season, but it emerged this will only be possible if 8-10 neutral venues are used to play the remaining fixtures.
The 'Project Restart' document was top of the agenda in the latest conference call on Friday, which all 20 clubs attended, while the next meeting is set to take place after the UK government's next review of lockdown measures on May 7.
The Sunday Supplement panel discussed whether going abroad would be the right move to end the 2019/20 season.
"I think it's a non-starter," Darren Lewis, football writer at the Daily Mirror. "Gary [Neville] is, in many ways, leading the conversation on the realities of this situation and calling things as they are, and speaking in a way that footballers have really resonated with.
"I know Simon Francis in The Times spoke about the many things Gary has been saying that reflect the views of footballers across the country, but I just can't see it being a starter on this."
Matt Lawton, chief sports correspondent with The Times, questioned why Australians would be willing to undermine their own coronavirus recovery by welcoming in hundreds of Premier League players, staff, management and media to allow the top flight to reach its conclusion.
"The biggest stumbling block with it is if you're Australian, and have so few cases, why would you want 2,000 people arriving from the worst-hit country in Europe?" he said.
"It's completely implausible. A couple of potentially infected plane-loads worth of people? Yeah, bring them over, let's play some football. Journalists? Staff? Where are they all going to stay?
"I agree with Darren, I think Gary's been excellent on this debate. But one of the other things we haven't touched on yet that has to be the fairest way to do it is to take relegation out of this."
"It's such a departure if they're going to play the rest of the season, I don't see how you can relegate someone when they've lost all the advantages you might have in the last nine games of the season."
