CANBERRA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Football Federation Australia (FFA) on Friday announced that it has made the "regrettable decision" to stand-down approximately 70 per cent of its staff due to the impact from the COVID-19.
James Johnson, FFA Chief Executive, said that the decision was extremely difficult to make but necessary to stabilize the organisation so that it can continue to service the game.
"We are in a situation where grassroots football and the A-League (men's top-flight league) are currently suspended, we've had the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the deferral of the international football calendar, so virtually all football activity has now ceased for the foreseeable future because of COVID-19," Johnson said in a media release.
"These developments impact many forms of revenue for FFA, including national registration fees, broadcast fees, sponsorship, ticket sales and government funding, so we have needed to adjust our operations to ensure that we can remain operational, forcing us to take the unfortunate decision to stand down approximately 70% of our workforce."
Johnson said FFA have explored ways to retain as many staff as possible, including reducing essential roles to part-time, and asking staff to take annual leave and long service leave.
"Unfortunately, a number of staff members will have a period of leave without pay," he said.
Due of the suspension of the sports event, Australia's other two leading sports recently also suffered the loss. The Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL) also choose to stand down some of their staff, according to local media report.
However, for the plan in the following months, Johnson said FFA will continue to operate with a small team, with a focus on continual engagement with fans through digital platforms.
"We view this as a temporary stoppage of football," said Johnson.
"We need a strong national governing body in place and a team ready and able to get back to work as soon as possible, as football will play an essential role in the recovery of our nation post COVID-19."
As at Canberra's local time 3:00pm on Friday, there have been 3,166 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, which include 367 new cases since the same time on Thursday.
