PORT ADELAIDE has been cleared of any wrongdoing over travel exemptions granted to eleven family members of players from Victoria, deemed to be inappropriate by the state’s Chief Health Officer.
An external review is underway to determine how eleven relatives of Port Adelaide players were mistakenly given permission by a member of South Australia’s exemption committee to travel into the state from Victoria.
It comes as the Premier, Steven Marshall cleared the club, players and parents of any wrongdoing.
“This wasn’t an error from the football club, or the parents, it was an error of judgment from the person doing the approvals in SA Health,” the Premier said on Thursday.
“There has been no personal gain from this, it was an administrative error among thousands of applications.
“It is hugely disappointing. We are taking action. I think there would be a problem if there was undue process but there is no suggestion of that.”
Port Adelaide General Manager – Football, Chris Davies on Thursday explained that the family of Darcy Byrne-Jones, the parents of Tom Rockliff and Travis Boak’s mother had all arrived in Adelaide and were quarantining at their own expense after being given permission to travel by SA Health, while other relatives had not made it into the state.
He said the club was aware they had applied for exemptions and it was understandable that they would want to support their sons in the AFL finals.
“As a parent, I imagine not having seen your son or daughter in a different situation for a long period of time, you would want to go through the process of asking, when you’re coming into the biggest part of the season,” Davies said.
“The parents asked the question and they were given an answer.
“I don’t think anyone should suggest the players’ parents have done anything wrong. The players certainly haven’t done anything wrong, nor has the club.
“The question was asked. The parents got an answer and they complied with that. There was a group who managed to get into South Australia yesterday. There’s a group who now have had their exemption rescinded.”
Davies explained that the club had asked the AFL about whether a transition hub, like that set up for the families of players in Queensland, would be set up in Adelaide for the finals.
He said once it became apparent that would not happen, the families elected to seek exemptions through SA Health as any traveller from Victoria would.
“The club put something to both the AFL and AFLPA to say is there going to be some sort of transition hub as they’d set up in Queensland for the families of the teams who are going to be in the finals and the response back to me was no,” Davies explained.
“The AFL wasn’t going to organise a group transition hub so on that basis the group of parents chose to apply just as any other citizen who wanted to enter South Australia would.”
Events SA CEO, Hitaf Rasheed has admitted providing a contact at SA Health for the families to contact about gaining an exemption and has been cleared of inappropriate actions.
Davies said there was nothing to be read into the fact she had previously led the club’s media team.
“It’s nothing to do with the footy club and in fairness to Hitaf, I don’t think she made the decision,” Davies said.
“SA Health were the ones who received the exemption request and SA Health were the ones who made the decision on the exemption, whether the players parents’ got that or not was not a matter for the football club.”
Davies explained that the club has a strong relationship with the families of players, and it was an important factor in the club’s success with player retention.
“We are one of the few clubs who invites and pays for our players parents to come over at various points throughout the year in order to make them feel like they’re part of our club,” he explained.
“We take an absolute family approach in that sense and we have a good relationship with the parents of our players.
“We know that if our players families are happy, generally our players will be happy and we’ve had great success over time in retaining our players who are from Melbourne and in this situation it was clear that the guys were going to ask for that exemption through the right channels – that is through SA Health and SA Health made the decision.”