Coach Dan McKellar said the Brumbies had no other choice but to re-locate their training base to Newcastle, with "dangerous" bushfire smoke blanketing Canberra and only weeks left until the start of Super Rugby.
The ACT club announced on Sunday they would moving their men's squad 450km north to Newcastle for a ten-day camp at least, due to the bushfire disaster producing “hazardous” air quality in Canberra.
Some describe it as Armageddon, others say it’s like living in a scene of Blade Runner.
— Lucie Bertoldo (@LucieBertoldo) January 4, 2020
We resort to stories and films to explain what’s going on around us because it’s not normal. It’s real life now and it’s terrifying.
Canberra, 7.30am. @canberratimes pic.twitter.com/ZOGl6dmJQR
But the club says it’s still too early to determine whether the same dangers could see the Brumbies have to shift a trial against the Rebels in Albury on January 23, or even their first Super Rugby game in Canberra on January 31 against the Reds.
Many businesses have closed and the Brumbies' training facility at the University of Canberra has also been shut down by the government-owned institution.
The air quality index (AQI) sat in the mid-600 range on Sunday, placing it in the “hazardous” category and many times higher than the level considered safe to exercise, which is below 150.
Brumbies boss Phil Thomson said the club had been preparing for the possibility of a relocation over the break, given the fact air quality was not improving and other sporting fixtures in Canberra in the W-League, Big Bash, WNBL, and the Canberra International Tennis, have been either cancelled or moved.
"We saw this coming a little while ago so for the last 72 hours we have made the call to re-locate,” Thomson said.
— 𝕤𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕙𝕒 𝕞𝕒𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕟 (@samanthamaiden) January 4, 2020
Air quality in Canberra this morning is insane - twice as bad almost as New Delhi. It’s actually orange and you can’t breathe outside and it smells of smoke inside the house pic.twitter.com/dGeKHxQXT2
McKellar said the Brumbies had sought to stay in Canberra but the AIS facilities were also shut, and with the ticking clock of the earliest even round one of Super Rugby on January 31, they had to move their whole operation to clean air further north.
"Our first priority was to stay in Canberra. We looked at indoor facilities but the sad reality is the AIS is closed for a period of time," McKellar said.
"The University of Canberra, even training here at our own facility, training here at our own gym and in our own offices at the moment, the air quality is not great.
"So asking the players to stay in Canberra and train with high intensity and high volume would be dangerous. Which is why we have made the decision to re-locate, where we can continue to prepare for January 31. It’s the earliest start ever to a Super Rugby competition and we can’t afford to lose an hour, let alone a day or two."
The Brumbies travelled to Newcastle on Sunday and re-commenced training after Christmas leave on Monday at Newcastle University.
"The air quality is rather bad, it’s back up over 600 or 700 and there is no certainty over what the quality is going to be over the next couple of weeks," Thompson said.
A Brumbies release said the club would continue to liaise with the ACT Emergency Services Authority to monitor conditions in Canberra ahead of their January 16 return, and for "all other programs including Super W and Brumbies Academy.”
McKellar said the club’s thoughts were with those suffering from the bushfire crisis.
"The small changes we have had to make are nothing in comparison to the distressing position so many people in our region are sadly experiencing at the moment,” McKellar said in a release.
"Player welfare is always a priority and temporarily moving to Newcastle will allow us to to continue to prepare for our round one match on January 31."
The Brumbies are due to play the Rebels in trial in Albury on January 23, ahead of a first home game in Canberra against Queensland on Friday, January 31.
Albury’s air quality is also currently in the “hazardous” category, due to bushfire smoke.
Thompson said it was too early to say if the trial would have to be moved, and he said the Brumbies were in dialogue with SANZAAR and Rugby Australia about the Super Rugby fixture.
"With the Albury trial, and our first home game on the 31st, we will be monitoring on a daily basis,” Thomson said.
"And we will be working with SANZAAR and Rugby Australia around the Super Rugby side of things.
“We will be working with the Rebels as we lead into that trial on the 23rd of January. We may have to reconsider what we are doing there but at this stage we are locked into playing there and that’s where we will be playing unless the conditions change.”
The Brumbies and Reds could theoretically swap their home games if conditions don’t improve for the opening round of Super Rugby - Suncorp Stadium is not booked - but asked if it was too soon to be talking contingency plans for the opening round of Super Rugby, Thomson said: “Yep, too soon for that.”
“On Monday we are 25 days from our first home game and we will be looking at it on a daily basis and see where we get to,” he said.
Canberra today. @windjunky @ShaneRattenbury @siobhanheanue pic.twitter.com/LKayIdSGdA
— Simon Troman (@SimonCTT) January 5, 2020
With Super Rugby no longer pausing for a June international window, the competition is starting earlier than ever and that has put it in direct company with summer sports for the first time.
Like cricket, soccer and basketball, rugby is attempting to quickly establish previously un-required policies on air quality and player safety, and it’s believed medical experts from the sports are unofficially sharing information, data and advice to each other to assist.
"We have policies for most things but we are in uncharted territory for smoke so we are being guided by, the AIS have put out some guidelines around smoke pollution and exercise, there are levels that are healthy/unhealthy and up into the hazardous range. Anything up above 200 becomes in the hazardous range,” Thomson said.
"We are talking with SANZAAR, Rugby Australia and we are even getting some guidance off World Rugby around this too.”
The Waratahs have also returned to training over the weekend and team doctors are also montoring the AQI to set training schedules, and even alter them on the run.
The Waratahs have a trial on January 17 against the Highlanders at Leichhardt Oval and the club says it will be monitoring the air quality on a daily basis before the game.
Other summer codes have made calls on the day about whether a game will be played.
Sydney's air quality has not been as regularly rated as 'hazardous' as the conditions Canberra, with readings between 150 and 175 on Sunday.
The Brumbies are scheduled to play their first trial against the Rebels in Albury on Thursday January 23.
