A-League boss puts job on line for restart

A DEFIANT Greg O’Rourke insists the A-League season will go ahead next Thursday — even if it costs him his job.

The A-League boss revealed on Thursday his confidence a border agreement with the NSW Government would be secured, that the ALeague grand final could be pushed back a week from its scheduled August 23 date and cleared the air with angry and frustrated players.

O’Rourke took the weight of criticism on his shoulders and declared his only goal was to ensure the A-League returned because “the buck stops with me”.

“It doesn’t matter about people calling for my head,” he said.

“If it means in the end for people to want to lose my role . . . that’s a possibility that is for others, but until that happens — if that happens — I’m going to be solely focused on getting that exemption, on getting the game back on the pitch, finishing the 27 games and the final series and delivering the ALeague.”

Following a week of latenight negotiations with the FFA, the NSW Government is mulling applications for special exemptions that will allow Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United to enter NSW — with O’Rourke confident the teams could mobilise within 24 hours.

Even if teams are granted permission to enter NSW, they will need to quarantine for 14 days — throwing the league’s revised schedule into disarray.

O’Rourke says the schedule is flexible enough to shift up to four games, including Melbourne sides, with player contracts valid until August 30.

“We remain very optimistic that in working with the NSW government, that we’ll find a way through this,” he said.

“And depending on how COVID roles out in certain states and territories, we also look forward maybe to having the opportunity of having crowds, members and others join us to watch those games.”

The three teams are tentatively pencilled in for a charter flight on Friday or Saturday morning, but O’Rourke said he would not put players through the chaotic scenes from earlier this week which left the players to declare they now lacked confidence in the organisation.