June 29, 2021 – Sydney, Australia –
COVID -19 has been a massive obstacle for the lives of most people in the past year or so. Some countries, such as the United States, are slowly opening everything up again while other places have not been so lucky. It has just been announced that Sydney, the largest city in Australia, has been placed in a 2-week lockdown due to the fast-spreading virus that the authorities cannot contain due to only 4% of Sydney residents being vaccinated. Now in a situation where the whole country of Australia could be put in lockdown in the matter of days, sports in the country may be highly affected.
The NBL1 and AIHL leagues are leagues based in Australia that could soon be heavily affected by recent lockdown news. With both leagues having more than a month remaining on their schedule, things can go downhill fast. For reference when the NBA first got shut down it happened within hours. If this new strain of COVID-19 keeps spreading as fast as it has been recently, it seems more than likely these leagues will be shut down temporarily, while everyone tries to figure out how to safely resume sports.
The AIHL already dealt with previous obstacles due to COVID and was forced to cancel the season, and they are now doing an exhibition season. Now there is a possibility that they may have to adjust that season now too. Due to the lack of vaccines available in Australia, it might not be until mid-2022 that Australia can reach a herd immunity of 80% or higher. All that is certain right now is speculation, but if Australia officials are serious about this lockdown, we have to assume the worst for all working-class people, including athletes.
As for the NBL1, the league was thrilled to be back on track after the short hiatus. With the leagues conference championships on the horizon, the lockdown could be a huge wrench thrown at the NBL1.
Australia has not had as difficult of an experience with COVID as other countries due to the strict rules in place at the very start of the global pandemic. In fact, the country was praised for the precautions put in place to slow the spread. However, with the new Delta strain, it seems that another heavy lockdown could shut things down in the near future.
As for the NBL1 and the AIHL, they are hoping that this new outbreak is able to be contained in a short manner. If not, it could cause a major inconvenience for both leagues.
