Korean Peninsula Tension May Force Shanghai-Hosted AFL Match To Be Moved

Australian Football League side Gold Coast will host its match with Port Adelaide in round eight at Metricon Stadium if the "escalating tensions" between the U.S. and North Korea "force the game to be moved from China," according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Suns scheduled the game against the Power at Jiangwan Sports Stadium in Shanghai on May 14 -- the "first match for premiership points outside Australia or New Zealand." But Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas said that "could change if the club received advice from the Australian government that it would be unsafe to travel to China in light of recent developments." He said, "Clearly you can’t ignore the circumstances that prevail in the world today and they’re in a region that’s sensitive to China and where we will be. But we have had no advice to suggest that the game is at risk or we shouldn’t be going" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/19).