Roar plea for hotel leniency

A-League: Western United are through to the semi finals in their inaugural A-League season after beating the Brisbane Roar in Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.

The Roar were due to fly home to Brisbane from Sydney on Monday night after their weekend elimination from the A-League finals series.
As revealed by News Corp Australia on Saturday, the Roar travelling party will be forced to spend two weeks in quarantine in a hotel despite FFA having asking the Queensland government to allow them to self-isolate in their own homes.

Roar players were furious at being prevented from returning to their homes immediately, particularly as they had been in COVID-19-enforced bubble in NSW since last month and because NRL and AFL teams had been given exemptions to fly in and out of Queensland.

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While now resigned to having to spend two weeks in a hotel on their return to Brisbane, the Roar have asked, via FFA, the Queensland government to allow two people per room and a common area in the hotel where the players and staff could gather rather than being confined on their own in rooms like “caged animals”.

Wellington Phoenix, who have also been knocked out of the finals, were due to return home to New Zealand on Monday night and be forced into similar “hard” quarantine hotel spell for 14 days.

Professional Footballers Australia co-chief executive Beau Busch acknowledged the “immense sacrifices” made by Phoenix and Roar players and staff.

“Throughout the game’s history, our players have consistently displayed remarkable leadership and commitment to the sport, never more so has this been evidenced than during the A-League’s resumption,” Busch said.

“On the pitch the performances of both teams over the course of an unprecedented season have been phenomenal. Off it the commitment and sacrifice displayed by the players has been unparalleled.

“The Phoenix players and staff have twice relocated to NSW, been away from their loved ones for nine weeks and endured four separate bouts of quarantine, while the Roar players and staff will be subject to 14 days hotel quarantine upon their return home.”

PFA president and Sydney FC defender Alex Wilkinson praised Phoenix and Roar for their “attitude and professionalism … in the face of such significant personal sacrifice”.

“The sacrifices made by players across the league to allow for the season to resume have been immense but none more so than those made by the Phoenix and Roar players and staff,” Wilkinson said.

“Their actions speak to who they are as people and their commitment to their profession and, more broadly, the sport.”

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