Life’s all about change, and Youi’s the insurer for all the changes – big and small – that happen to you. That’s why the Brisbane Lions and Youi have teamed-up for the ‘Moments of Change’ series, where each week they’ll look back at some of the defining moments that have shaped the club you know today.
Sunday 22 March 2020. The Brisbane Lions played Hawthorn at the MCG. It was a day in club history that will never be forgotten. The Lions were beaten by 28 points in front of empty stands and coach Chris Fagan was not asked one question about the match at his post-match media conference. Because it was a day not about football. It was a day of change.
As the Coronavirus pandemic took hold of the nation AFL CEO Gil McLachlan announced at half-time of the Lions-Hawks game that the 2020 AFL season would be shut down until at least 31 May. And as it turned out, until 11 June.
In a moment that will stick in the memory forever, AFL season 2020 became a season like no other.
To close out the 2022 ‘Moments of Change’ series here we look back at a season in which nothing was normal and everything football was changed, culminating with a Grand Final at the Gabba.
Even before the Lions headed south for their scheduled Round 1 clash things had changed. The League had confirmed on the Monday of that week that the 22-game season would be reduced to 17 games, and that game time would be cut by 20% from 20-minute quarters plus time-on to 16-minutes play time-on.
McLachlan had confirmed the first four rounds of the fixture would remain as scheduled and warned thereafter anything could happen. He was committed to ‘getting the season away’ and conceded early that the grand final would push back later than normal.
But as the Lions contemplated a nine-point deficit at halftime against the Hawks possibility became reality. The AFL season was in limbo, and the AFLW season, in which the Lions were genuine flag contenders, was cancelled. There would be no more AFLW matches. No grand final. No premiership.
Suddenly words like ‘flexible’ and ‘agile’ became part everyday footballspeak as the game, like everything else in the country, began to learn how to live with a deadly virus that would kill millions around the world.
“To say this is the most serious threat to our game in 100 years is an understatement. It is unprecedented in its impact,” said McLachlan. “As a community and as a code we will need to take the unprecedented and required actions to get through this together.
“I know that everyone involved in our game and our millions of supporters will be impacted by this decision, and that many people will suffer significant hardship as are people right across the community, but I also know that we all have a responsibility to community and each other. Abd we have the will to work collectively to overcome this crisis.”
The Lions-Hawks game finished with the players oblivious to what was happening across town at Marvel Stadium, and it was only as the players did on-ground interviews post-game that they begin to become aware of what was going on.
It didn’t take long. All we heard about on news bulletins 24 hours a day was Coronavirus as the League took every step possible to limit what was already guaranteed to be a massive financial impact on the game.
As the country locked down State borders, introduced strict social distancing rules, and closed all non-essential services all AFL clubs were shut, training was cancelled and staff across the entire competition were stood down. Most of those still working did so from home. And all the football public could do was wait.
Not until Thursday 11 June, 81 days later, did the competition resume as charter flights, empty hotels, zoom meetings, empty stadiums and daily Covid tests for all football personnel became automatic. Four and five-day breaks between games became regular and were accepted without challenge, as the united playing ranks took a significant pay cut.
As the southern states were hit hardest by the virus Queensland became the home of the AFL. Instead of the normal annual allocation of 22 games at the Gabba and Metricon Stadium and occasionally a Cairns game in the 198-game home-and-away fixture, the Sunshine State hosted 79 of 153 H&A games, and six of nine finals, including the grand final.
The other 79 games were split Victoria (23), SA (22), WA (17), NSW (14) and NT (3), with two finals in Adelaide and one on Perth.
The fixture was confirmed in small blocks every few weeks as each club’s bye was allocated as needed to keep the season rolling in what was an extension of a Round 3 ‘decision’ when the Essendon v Melbourne game was postponed after Essendon’s Conor McKenna tested positive to Coronavirus.
It was a fixture done on the run, and there were two especially odd outcomes. In Round 6 six games were played in Queensland (two at the Gabba and four at Metricon), three were in NSW (two at Giants Stadium, one at the SCG), and not one side played at home. In Round 12 six games were in Queensland (three each at the Gabba and Metricon) and three were in WA. And in Rounds 15-16-17-18 split between Tuesday 1 September and Monday 21 September four games were played in Cairns – two on a Sunday, one on a Monday and one on a Thursday.
Genuine home ground advantage was a rare luxury for most clubs, who found themselves often sharing accommodation ‘hubs’ with other clubs, and in one total oddity the Round 12 Sydney derby was played in Perth.
We learned a new phrase – ‘football frenzy’. Not once but twice. There were 33 games in 20 days in Rounds 9-10-11-12 and 32 games in 18 days in Rounds 15-18.
While 55 of 153 H&A games were played on a Saturday and 44 on a Sunday, it was a calendar like never before, with 17 games on a Thursday and Friday, 10 on a Monday and six each on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Round 6 there were no games on Saturday and Sunday, and in Round 15 there were no games Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Similarly, the Lions had a fixture that will never be replicated. After Round 1 at the MCG they played their next four games at the Gabba and then two in Sydney in Rounds 6-7, when they stayed in the Harbour City to restrict travel exposure to Covid. Their last next 10 H&A games were in Queensland – five at the Gabba, 4 at Metricon and one in Cairns.
With all domestic football shut down, Lions players not selected in the AFL side were limited to virtual ‘pick-up’ games against AFL clubs with reduced numbers. Better than nothing but hardly a quality learning or development experience for a young player.
On Wednesday 2 September AFL boss Gill McLachlan announced the 2020 Grand Final would be played at the Gabba on Saturday 24 October – the first time in history it had not been in Victoria - after bids from SA and WA were rejected. It was payback time after the Queensland Government had played a critical role in effectively saving the season.
There was an extended ‘Festival of Football’ state-wide, stretching from Far-North Queensland to the Gold Coast, with the premiership cup making an extended tour to regional centres.
The Lions finished second on the home-and-away ladder with a 14-3 record, equal with Port Adelaide in wins but 11.5% behind on percentage. They beat Richmond by 15 points in a qualifying final at the Gabba but after a week off fell to Geelong by 40 points at the Gabba.
It was a shattering end to the season, but 24 hours later there was reason for celebration when Lachie Neale won the 2020 Brownlow Medal, held as a ‘virtual’ event as functions with limited guests were held concurrently at the Gabba, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. It was a runaway win, with Neale polling 31 votes in 17 games to beat Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak (21), Melbourne’s Christian Petracca and St.Kilda’s Jack Steele (20).
Six days later Richmond played Geelong in the 6.30pm grand final at the Gabba - the first night grand final in history. Under strict crowd restrictions 29,707 listened in deathly silence as Mike Brady’s stirring rendition of ‘Up There Cazaly’ from an empty MCG was pumped in, before watching the Tigers kick 5-5 to 1-0 in the fourth quarter to win 12-9 (81) to 7-8 (50) on a night of wonderful festivity and record-breaking TV ratings across the country.
Just days later the AFL announced the code had made a $136.4m contribution to the Queensland economy over the season after 550 players, 750 staff and their families had relocated to the state to enjoy 101,000 bed nights, 400,000 meals, 10,000 rental cars, 950 bus trips and 120 charter flights.
The Lions closed the season with a heart-felt thank you to the extended club ‘family’ after the 2020 membership of 29,277 had made them the biggest member-based club in Queensland.
“If we are to take a positive out of the year, it’s that through the highs and lows of season 2020 our members have stuck with us and in fact we have more members this year than we did in 2019," said CEO Greg Swann.
“We can’t thank our members enough for their unwavering support, loyalty and passion. Not only have they stuck by us this year through pledging memberships and purchasing merchandise they have sent in hoards of messages of support for the team and Club - those messages of support are what keeps everyone here going.
“It’s so heartening to know the Club has such loyal members who will continue to support us through the ongoing challenges we will face following this pandemic. From all of us at the Club, we want to extend our sincerest thanks to every single one of our 29,277 members.”
It was the start of bigger things, and on 24 May this year the club announced a record membership for the second year in a row of 40,453, having enjoyed a 90% increase in membership since 2017, with a 71% increase in Victorian membership across the same period.
So ended what will forever be the AFL’s asterisk season, where every mention of 2020 in the history books and records is marked with a (*) to remind us of the extraordinary trials and tribulations of a campaign like no other.
There were untold moments of change in 2020 and untold learnings that have changed forever the way we look at football. The scope of what is and is not possible is far, far wider, and above everything else is the realization that the game is not the same without spectators.
Thanks to our friends at youi for helping bring this series to life.
