2020 NEAFL season

The 2020 NEAFL season was to have been the tenth season of the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL). The season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the NEAFL was amalgamated with the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1]

2020 NEAFL season
Date	4 April – 21 September (not contested)
Teams	9
Premiers	Premiership not contested
← 2019 2021 (VFL) →

The season was scheduled to begin on 4 April and conclude with the grand final on 21 September. As a result of a new naming rights agreement with Toyota, the season was to be known as the 2020 Toyota NEAFL Premiership Season.^[2]

Additionally, the NEAFL's top-six structure for the finals series was set to be changed to a top-five structure for the 2020 season.^[3]

Clubs

Nine clubs were set to compete in the 2020 season, with NT Thunder having disbanded at the end of 2019.^[4]

Standalone Aspley Canberra Redland Southport Sydney University

AFL reserves sides Brisbane Lions Gold Coast GWS Giants Sydney Swans

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

See also: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports and COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Like the 2020 AFL season, the season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, three weeks prior to the scheduled start of the premiership season.^[5] On 16 March, it was announced that the NEAFL and all other state leagues would be postponed until 31 May.^[6]

On 16 June, after discussion on how to proceed with a condensed season in a 'non-traditional format', the AFL made the decision to cancel the season.^[7]

Amalgamation with the VFL

Further information: 2021 VFL season § Amalgamation with the NEAFL

In August 2020, it was announced that the NEAFL would amalgamate into the VFL, with all of its clubs afforded the opportunity to join the VFL, over a transitional period in 2021 and 2022.^[8] Six NEAFL teams opted to join: the Sydney reserves, Greater Western Sydney reserves, Brisbane reserves and Gold Coast reserves, and two stand-alone senior clubs from Queensland: Gold Coast based Southport Sharks and Brisbane based Aspley Hornets. Sydney based Sydney University was offered a licence before ultimately declining, due to the cost to compete being too high.^[9] The Canberra Demons^[10] and Brisbane based Redland both declined to join the merged competition before licenses were offered.^[11]

Aspley ultimately departed at the end of the 2021 VFL season.^[12]

References

1. "Club killed off without notice as AFL ditches entire competition in massive footy revamp". 24 August 2020.
2. Gaynor, Jacob (21 January 2020). "2020 Toyota NEAFL Premiership Season fixture released". AFL NSW/ACT. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024.
3. Elliot, Laura (9 January 2020). "Exciting Season Set for NEAFL". GWS GIANTS. Archived from the original on 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
4. "Thunder no more: AFLNT confirms no NEAFL and VFLW teams". AFL.com.au. 12 September 2019.
5. Jon Ralph (13 March 2020). "The AFL season is in limbo with Round 1 to be played without fans". Herald Sun. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
6. "STATEMENT: 2020 Toyota NEAFL season postponed". AFL Queensland.
7. "NEAFL season cancelled". Sydney Swans. 17 June 2020.
8. Max Laughton (24 August 2020). "VFL to merge with NEAFL, under-18 comps revamped in massive changes to AFL's second tier". Fox Sports. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
9. Paul Amy (29 October 2020). "Twenty-two teams to line up in the VFL next year". Leader. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
10. Gaynor, Jacob (2020-09-01). "Canberra Demons will not take part in the new Eastern Football League". canberrademons. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
11. "Redland Bombers pull out of new competition". Leader. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
12. Brendan Rhodes (20 August 2021). "VFL season review: Aspley". Australian Football League. Retrieved 20 August 2021.