This past round of the A-League saw several managers and players attack the FFA for their heat policy, after Sydney and Perth were forced to play out their 0-0 draw in 34 degree heat.
With a recorded peak temperature of 37 degrees, Saturday’s match saw little in the way of entertaining football from either side, as both teams failed to exert themselves, with only two shots on goal in the entire match resulting in a rather lacklustre match. In the aftermath, the match caused more of a stir than it normally would after Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold slammed the FFA for forcing the match to be played at the allocated 4:30pm time. Most notably, he was quoted as saying: “Does it need someone to die first?” asking an important question about player safety when the heat is too much.
Are we waiting for someone to die? Arnie fires up after #PERvSYD 0-0 draw https://t.co/MC0AgHNGGx #foxfootball pic.twitter.com/Xkug2Slawk
— FOX SPORTS Football (@FOXFOOTBALL) November 21, 2015
This is not something that purely pertains to the A-League either. Playing conditions, especially those in high temperatures, have been something constantly discussed in the last few years thanks to Qatar winning the 2022 World Cup bid. As the World Cup is normally held in Summer in the northern hemisphere, there was an issue with player safety holding the World Cup in Qatar during that time, as temperatures have been reported to hit as high as 50 degrees. This discussion eventually saw the World Cup moved to Winter 2022 in what was seen as a rather controversial move but one that backs player safety nonetheless.
In the A-League, heat is an issue that continues to come up. In January there were reports of Perth and Adelaide players vomiting and achieving excessive weight loss after their match in Perth. The match itself was delayed half an hour but the recorded temperature was still very high at around 39 degrees. In that case, the system used by the FFA, the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) system, suggested the match should be moved as the risk of heat-related injuries was too high to justify playing the match at its allocated time. The WBGT system looks at air temperature, humidity, wind and radiation to provide a more accurate reading of the heat.
The recorded reading on Saturday was just a little under two points below the required number to move the match according to the policy the FFA has in place. However, the FFA did allow the concession of a drinks break midway through each half in order to help the players recover. Arnold, in a post-match interview, felt that this was not enough and arguably he is correct. The Perth match saw the club’s lowest attendance this season with a reasonable 6976 and it is arguable that the heat caused many fans to stay away from going to the match, and the lacklustre play by both sides may be more of a deterrent to fans returning to future matches.
This was something noted by Sydney FC player Shane Smeltz in the aftermath of Saturday’s match, who felt that games in conditions similar to those every week would hurt the league as fans would not want to see the rather dull football being played as players try to keep themselves safe. However, it raises the question: how to fix the situation? With the move to a Summer league, the A-League cannot ignore this issue, especially as it continues to make itself known worldwide in other nations. Theoretically, the policy that the FFA has in place is a sensible one as it bases itself off scientific evidence and creates a threshold of 28 degrees under the WBGT system that seems to be pretty reasonable from an objective standpoint.
However, when matches like the Perth and Sydney game fail to meet that threshold yet still pose a serious risk to the players, something needs to be done and some common sense on the part of the officials must be used. In this specific case, the drinks break in each half seemed to be a reasonable concession but if the reports out of the Sydney camp are to be believed, then there was still a significant risk to player safety despite the FFA going out of their way to accommodate the match.
One could also point to the time these matches are being held and wonder why the game times themselves are not being changed in the warmer places in Australia and New Zealand, specifically Perth. However, this is something that is harder to shift due to the TV deal the A-League has in place. If the league wants to attract the most viewers, it has to appeal to the largest audience, all of which happen to live on the opposite side of the country and as a result force Perth to hold their games much earlier in the day in order to achieve the prime time slot the FFA wants. While the league will grow as a result of improved attendance and audiences, it should not and will not come as a consequence of shrugging off player safety. With games that are dangerous to the player, fans will be turned away more easily thanks to the low quality of football and the conditions themselves.
Admittedly, there is no easy solution for the FFA in regards to the heat policy and playing conditions. Make the policy too flexible, and it could easily be abused by clubs and cause a scheduling mess. Make the policy too strict, and players could suffer serious health complications as a result. However, the issue is something that needs to be addressed and further refined in order to ensure that players can play safely without risk of severe dehydration and fans can watch the entertaining football they expect. For now though, this is a case of waiting and seeing how the FFA will react, but arguably the heat is on them to make a change sooner rather than later.
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