The race to get vaccinated

Vaccines mandates imposed by the Victoria government have led A-Leagues clubs racing to meet specific vaccination dates.

The Victorian Government instituted vaccine requirements, first announced last week, for authorized providers and authorized workers (APAW) who are not working from home. Under these new guidelines all APAWs are required to undergo mandatory vaccination.

Key Vaccination Impacts

Players and staff will need to be vaccination if they play in Victoria
Clubs are racing to meet the 15 of October and 26 of November vaccine dates
One Melbourne club is facing the prospect of standing down a vaccine-reluctant player

The new guidances state that "professional or high-performance sportsperson, workers that support the safe running of that person’s professional sport, and public broadcast personnel necessary for broadcasting the professional sport" are authorized workers and fall under APAW mandates.

APAWs must have first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine must be administered by the 15th of October, 2021 with the second received by the 26th of November 2021. Only APAWs who can receive a medical exemption are not required to be vaccinated.

The new guidelines will not only apply to Victoria based clubs but also to any clubs, and their players and their staff, who will play in the state. All teams in the non-NSW A-Leagues conference must also meet these specific dates if they are scheduled to play in Victoria when the A-League Men's kicks off on November 19, 2021 and A-League Women's on December 3, 2021.

Should the conference system be abandoned after the first six rounds of the A-League Men's and first four rounds of the A-League Women's, then one would expect that New South Wales based teams and Wellington Phoenix will be obliged to also comply should they play in Victoria.

This has left A-League Men's and A-League Women's clubs, as well as other sports who will compete in the state of Victoria, in a race to ensure that all personal and players are vaccinated by the specified dates.

FTBL recently revealed that there are up to 15 vaccine-reluctant players currently facing stand downs in the A-League.

Melbourne Victory's women's team expects all of its players to follow vaccine mandates. Melbourne City state that the vast majority of their women's players should meet vaccination requirements but that certain players are still abroad.