Climate change threatens future of Australian Open and summer sports

As the Morrison government pours millions into rebuilding Australia’s reputation as a tourist destination, new research shows the future of the Australian Open and other summer sporting events is under threat due to climate change.

A tennis player has a smoke-induced coughing fit.

From grassroots to the professional level, popular summer sports including tennis, cycling and cricket could become casualties of the crisis, new research by the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub (MCCCRH) has revealed.

“Australian tennis is already experiencing the impact of climate change, with smoke from bushfires and extreme heat driven by climate change increasing health risks for players and the likelihood of match disruptions,” the report commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said.

Read the story from The New Daily by Isabelle Lane  - “Climate change threatens future of Australian Open and summer sports.”

OUR FUTURE: Climate change and summer sports.

For any Australian sporting enthusiast, summer means cricket at the MCG, watching the world’s best tennis players at the Australian Open or simply appreciating the outdoors as you play sport yourself. 

Humans are not designed with withstand increasingly extreme heat.

But no matter what you are doing, it’s always extremely hot. What will happen to our sporting calendar as the climate continues to warm? I fear cancellation of sport events could become commonplace.

Last year, the Australian Open had to abandon play on a number of matches as temperatures soared past 40 degrees during qualifying rounds. Ticket sales have steadily reduced by thousands over the past few years as spectators opt to avoid the heat.

In February, in a first for both NSW Cricket and Rugby League, all graded games were cancelled one weekend due to dangerously hot weather.

Our bodies aren’t designed to withstand increasingly extreme heat. Health experts are concerned for a new generation of respiratory illness if temperatures continue to rise. Dr Liz Hanna said we’ll end up in a “contest of who copes best in the heat more than who is best in their sport”.

Perhaps we could be headed for a future of indoor sport or the rescheduling summer classics to winter months. But it’d be un-Australian to let our sporting events be sidelined this summer, so we need to start making some changes. 

Read the special report in The Advocate - “OUR FUTURE: Climate change and summer sports.”

Not even the tennis can distract us from how badly this government is doing

 ‘The report provides absolutely no joy
for the Abbott-Turnbull governments.’ 

When the news is bad, governments love distractions, and this week the Australian Open has been excellent for diverting voters’ attention from more examples of how badly this government is at governing.

To be fair to Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic, it’s not all their doing. This government – like many others before – has purposefully used the summer holidays to avoid scrutiny.

We would do well to recall that one of the last acts of the government in 2016 was to release the March and June quarterly greenhouse gas emissions reports on the Thursday before Christmas.

The transparent desire to release the report at a time when most of the public were in holiday mode is all you need to know to realise how bad it is for the government.

The report showed that greenhouse gas emissions from electricity have continued to rise since the repeal of the carbon price. Emissions from electricity generation in the June quarter last year were 4.4% higher than in the June 2014 quarter – the last quarter under the carbon price.

Read Greg Jericho’s story on The Guardian - “Not even the tennis can distract us from how badly this government is doing.”

Most of us are uncertain about the heat, but Tess knows

Most of us simply know this week is going to be rather hot.

Most of us are not entirely sure why.

Most of us, unlike Tess Parker, do not study the climate and subsequently articles such as “What’s cranking up the heat across south-eastern Australia” are decidedly helpful I helping us understand what’s is “cranking up” this week’s heat.

Tess, a PhD candidate at Monash University, tells us facts we all know, such as the players at this year’s Australian Open, will suffer and many that might be beyond our understanding.