'Necessary intrusion': Drones to monitor AFL fans for grand final
Drones will be used to monitor Victorian footy fans for this weekend’s AFL grand final to ensure there are no parties held that would be in breach of the state’s strict coronavirus rules.
As cases continue to hold steady in Melbourne after months of strict lockdown measures, residents have recently enjoyed some relaxing of the strict rules around gathering with friends and family.
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While two households can gather in groups of up to 10 people in public spaces after the latest loosening of restrictions, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has made a point of communicating that parties over the grand final weekend are banned.
“While I know that many people would normally spend time with family and friends to celebrate that day, whether their team is in the grand final or not, it is a big part of who we are," he said.
“But your household and only the members of your household, that is how grand final day has to be.
“You cannot have friends over into your home.
“You cannot pretend that it is over because we all desperately want it to be.
“It is not worth risking all that we have done, all that we have built, all that we can do in just a few days' time by having gatherings that are unsafe.”
Part of enforcing that rule will be the use of drones to monitor citizens in areas such as public parks and beaches, as well as suburban backyards.
Eddie McGuire says drone monitoring ‘necessary intrusion’
Discussing the upcoming Grand Final on the TODAY show on Thursday, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said Melbournians should accept their use as a ‘necessary intrusion’ in order to preserve their hard-fought gains against the second wave of the pandemic.
“I say just everybody do the right thing this weekend," he said.
“I think these (drones) sometimes can get put up so people pull up.
“Melburnians have gone through hell over the last six months. We're nearly there.
“So let's get it through grand final and then hopefully focus and get to Christmas.”
Speechless. We had three lots of families (neighbours with a house in between) standing on their own nature strips a week ago and the spotting helicopter hovered for 25 mins. Focus is skewed.
— Sally Branson (@SalBra) October 21, 2020
Richmond progressed to their third grand final in four years when they defeated Port Adelaide in last Friday’s preliminary final.
They will face Geelong in the decider, who toppled the Brisbane Lions to win through to the deciding game of the season.
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