'Weird and eerie' as Aussie sport plays to empty stadiumsThe Australian Rules season kicked off in an empty stadiumMELBOURNE: Australia's hugely popular Aussie Rules season has kicked off in front of 100,000 empty seats on "the most remarkable, weird and eerie night in recent sporting memory". Despite major competitions scrapped around the world to counter the threat of coronavirus, the Australian Football League (AFL) opted to press on without crowds after the government banned outdoor public gatherings of more than 500 people. On any other day, the season-opening game between Richmond and Carlton would see up to 90,000 fans cram into the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australian Rules, a dynamic game similar to Ireland's Gaelic football, is ordinarily the country's biggest spectator sport and the AFL tweeted before the game: "Wish you were here." "It's probably a habit, but at the end of the day we were playing a contact sport and touching everyone anyway," he told reporters.

Source: Bangkok Post March 20, 2020 01:30 UTC