In a media release published by the league today, the National Rugby League (NRL) has moved to cancel the Magic Round Brisbane 2020 due to the worsening situation of the COVID-19 crisis.
The league’s decision to call off the May event comes after releasing an announcement earlier this week that the NRL Telstra Premiership will be suspended. It is in accordance with the advice from government health officials and biosecurity experts to minimise the spread of the novel coronavirus.
As the situation worsens in the country, more safety measures are imposed by the authorities such as travel restrictions to Queensland and the extended period for the restrictions on mass gatherings. This means that the cancellation of the Magic Round Brisbane 2020 is an inevitable decision for the NRL.
‘These are challenging times for our community and our game, but we had to take this action as there was simply no other option’, NRL Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Abdo commented on the situation.
Moreover, Abdo also assured that even though this year’s event was called off, Magic Round Brisbane will return in the next year.
‘We have always said we would continue but only as long as it was safe to do so for our players, staff and the wider Rugby League community’, Abdo said. ‘We appreciate this will be disappointing for many people, but the NRL can assure fans that Magic Round Brisbane will return in 2021, bigger and better than ever’.
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The NRL chief also expressed his gratitude to all of the Magic Round Brisbane partners that gave their full support to the league’s event.
‘In particular, I would like to extend my thanks to Tourism & Events Queensland, Brisbane Marketing, and our presenting partner KFC for their support and understanding’, he said.
For the fans who already bought tickets or hospitality packages, the NRL or Ticketek will directly contact all individual ticket holders within a few days to discuss how they can obtain refunds. Other purchases in relation to the event such as airfare, accommodation, and car hire will be the individual’s responsibility to arrange for a refund or credits as made available by the respective providers. It is advised that people should contact these providers directly.
On other related news, the official NRL magazine, Big League will be on an indefinite hiatus until the competition comes back. The production halt was announced by the team in their Twitter account.
Big League magazine editor Maria Tsialis shared that their small editorial team remains in good spirits despite the hiatus.
‘It’s not the way we obviously wanted to celebrate our 100th year of publication’, Tsialis said. ‘But when you consider our run … we have only ever not gone to print during the Super League split and even before that something like the world wars’.
‘We’ll take a couple of weeks off now but will then start getting onto our social media platforms and create a bit of discussion online and possibly even give away a few prizes down the track’, the editor also added.