The Sydney Swans this afternoon confirmed some members of the football department, including players, have tested positive for Covid-19 during their leave period.

All affected players and staff are double vaccinated and all report to be in good health.

All positive cases are adhering to relevant State Government health directives.

All members of the football program returned negative Covid tests before their final training session of the year on Wednesday, December 15, in line with AFL protocols that includes weekly PCR testing, as well as regular rapid antigen testing.

Swans football department staff and players are due to return from leave on Thursday January 6, 2022.

The AFL Community Series in 2022 will see all teams play one match across Thursday, March 3 to Monday March 7, 2022.

AFL Premiers Melbourne are first out of the gate, playing Carlton at Marvel Stadium.

Practice Matches

Pre-season practice matches will be held on the last two weekends of February. The participating clubs will decide on the venue and time for the match, and can play with the format including player numbers, number of playing periods, length of playing period and more.

There must be at least 7 days break between the practice match and the club’s Community Series match.

Talk Practice Match and Community Series here =>

Match-ups are as follows:

Essendon v Western Bulldogs
North Melbourne v Melbourne
Sydney Swans v GWS GIANTS
Carlton v St Kilda
Collingwood v Hawthorn
Geelong Cats v Richmond
Brisbane Lions v Gold Coast SUNS
West Coast Eagles v Adelaide Crows
Fremantle v Port Adelaide

One 2022 AAMI Community Series Match

AFL-sanctioned pre-season matches will be held from Thursday, March 3 to Monday March 7, 2022.

Format and game length as per those in place for the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

In 2021 cryptocurrency has emerged as the fastest growing sponsorship category in sport.

The COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the sporting industry world-wide, but while one industry suffered, another rose from the shadows.

Crypto has been on an upward trend, but if they want it to continue, companies need to look at expanding their consumer base.

This has begun, with crypto companies pouring hundreds of millions into sport.

Professional sport, and even second tier in the US, have massive fan bases, so it only makes sense to tap into that market.

COVID cutting costs and limited to non in-person attendance has meant sports teams and leagues need money and luckily, crypto investors have a lot of it.

Steve Kalifowitz, chief marketing officer at Crypto.com, spoke with Ministry of Sport about the role of crypto in sport and his company’s work.

“Part of our mission is to accelerate the world’s transition into cryptocurrency, which means reaching as many people as possible and when it comes to these properties we’re working with, I think we’re reaching as many people as possible,” he told Ministry of Sport.

“Viewership of live sport is up across the board in almost every sport, attendance in arenas is down but the number of people engaging in sport and amount of time people spend engaging in sport has gone up.

Crypto.com and other cryptocurrency exchanges are reaching billions of viewers with their partnerships, and with increased viewership levels, comes more exposure to crypto.

These partnerships work both ways, as sport also benefits from it. These companies are pumping money into teams and leagues but they are also looking at more ways to benefit fans says Kalifowitz.

“I think we’re just at the early stages, what we’re going to work on is improving and enhancing the fan experience, the connection between fans and the sport, the league, the teams, the athletes and even connecting fans to each other,” he said.

One way they are looking at doing this is replicating the feel of in-person attendance, and Kalifowitz thinks this can be delivered online.

“Only so many people can fit in the stadium, and there are millions of people that can’t get there or will never get there, but want to taste what that feels like, and there are ways we can deliver that in the digital world, and I think that’s the next frontier for crypto and sport together,” he added.

Cryptocurrency exchanges have been feasting on the sport industry this year, with Crypto.com partnering with the UFC and Formula One

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