Suggestions of finishing the Premier League in Australia would face ‘lots of obstacles in the way’ according to the Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan.
English football remains suspended indefinitely amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, though there remains a commitment to concluding the campaign with several plans being considered at present including the possibility of playing remaining fixtures at neutral venues.
One suggestion is to relocate the Premier League to a safer location, with Gary Neville among the first to publicly suggest finishing the season in a country with low levels of COVID-19.
It was claimed by The Sun on Sunday that ‘government officials are enthusiastic’ and ‘Premier League clubs like the idea’ of finishing the season in Australia, with the nation having recorded just 95 deaths from 6822 reported cases according to the latest figures.
The capital of Western Australia, Perth, has been suggested as a potential safe destination to conclude the Premier League season, though there appears to be several stumbling blocks that would need to be navigated before any radical plans can be finalised.
McGowan admits there is ‘a lot of obstacles in the way’ of any plans for Premier League fixtures to be played in Australia, and suggested the state may be unwilling to risk health and welfare amidst the global pandemic.
“I haven’t been formally contacted by the English Premier League. They haven’t contacted my office, they haven’t contacted me,” McGowan said told Sky Sports.
“We do have hard international borders to stop people coming in who aren’t Australian. So, I’ll look forward to any contact if they want to provide it to us, but I think there’s a lot of obstacles in the way.
“Britain has very, very high rates of COVID-19 and they have had a lot of people die. You don’t necessarily want to risk these things.
“As I said we’ll have a look if any submission comes forward but I think it’s a very, very big ask for that to happen here.”
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