Australia shows the way on settling missed matches

● Australia’s soccer brains trust has settled the issue around missed matches because of Covid-19 with more ease and decision than happened in SA.

The A-League will record a “no result” for any further men’s matches this season that are called off due to Covid19, the league said.

The decision was announced on Friday, with the Newcastle Jets v Sydney FC marking the first instance of this regulation being applied.

The Jets were hit with a number of Covid-19 cases ahead of the match but decided to play with a depleted side to avoid facing a “no result”. They went on to win the match 2-0 at home.

“As a result of a full season of Covidrelated disruption to our fixture schedule, which has seen more than 30% of our men’s games rescheduled to date, we have reached a point in the season where there are no further dates available for rescheduled matches for a number of teams,” the league said in a statement.

“In this extraordinary circumstance, the competition regulations dictate that where a regular season match is cancelled due to Covid-19 and not rescheduled, it will be recorded as a ‘no result’.

“The application of this regulation is a very last resort and we are working with all of our clubs to mitigate the threat of any further interruption. No points will be granted to either team in case of a ‘no result’.”

In SA, the Premier Soccer League executive committee is reportedly taking on review the arbitrator’s decision that Kaizer Chiefs should replay two missed matches from December, against Cape Town City and Golden Arrows.