Starting this Saturday, the Australian Football League will allow fans in the stands as rivals Port Adelaide and Adelaide will square off in what will be the biggest crowd in the country in months. Roughly 2,000 fans will be permitted to sit in Adelaide Oval's general admission area, and another 240 in private rooms - well below the venue's 53,000-capacity, to meet social distancing requirements.
South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said numbers would increase "slowly and gradually" as the season progresses and there's hard evidence that Covid-19 spread has been thwarted.
"Football and crowds are back in South Australia," he was quoted in talking to reporters. "South Australia will be the first with a significant number of people at an AFL match and the first time we have had a significant crowd at any sport in Australia for months and months and months."
The announcement comes a day after New Zealand's Super Rugby Aotearoa announced that stadiums would be open to their fans starting this weekend.
Auckland Blues boss Andrew Hore said more than 20,000 tickets had been sold for Sunday's match against the Wellington Hurricanes - let's hope this doesn't backfire, although I'll be honest I'm excited to hear fans will be present!
In case you're not familiar with Australian Rules Football, which I find a fun sport to watch, below is an explanation of rules video. Enjoy!!
What is AFL? Aussie Rules Explained
What is AFL? Australian Football, also known as AFL, Aussie Rules or Footy, is a fast, skilful and tough game played by some of the fittest professional athl...
