Friday evening’s Spherical 2 AFL sport between Melbourne and Brisbane was suspended when the lights went out at The Gabba in weird scenes.
Brisbane dominated the sport from the early phases and led comfortably by 40 factors halfway by the fourth quarter when the floodlights all of the sudden turned off.
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With the sphere in pitch black, the sport stopped as gamers and followers seemed on in amusement.
A globe in one of many floodlights was flickering with a flame, suggesting it had exploded and triggered the facility outage in a loud bang.
The umpires conferred with AFL officers earlier than the gamers quickly left the sphere and went to their respective change rooms.
“The Gabba is investigating a technical problem that’s impacting the venue’s energy,” a message on the stadium’s large display learn.
WATCH THE BIZARRE SCENES IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
The floodlights started to slowly flip again on and the gamers returned to the sphere to finish an eight-minute warm-up and play out the remaining 12 minutes of the sport.
The lights went out at round 10.20pm AEDT. The sport ultimately resumed at 10.58pm AEDT.
The prolonged pause proved to be a severe momentum shifter.
As soon as play resumed, the Demons figuratively turned it on — kicking 5 objectives within the final 12 minutes of the sport.
The Lions ultimately held on for a 14.9 (93) to 13.4 (82) victory, however they misplaced 13 for-and-against share factors within the final quarter.
The final quarter went for 69 minutes — the longest time period in V/AFL historical past.
For context, that’s eight minutes longer that the hour-long quarter by which Buddy Franklin kicked his one centesimal objective final 12 months.
Beneath AFL guidelines, there could be a most 60-minute delay earlier than the sport is resumed.
If that window elapsed, the rating would stay and the Lions can be awarded the victory and the 4 premiership factors.
The farcical scenes despatched AFL followers into hysterics and evoked reminiscences of comparable scenes when the floodlights went out within the 1996 match between St Kilda and Essendon at Waverley Park.
A Large Bash League cricket sport in 2019 was deserted at The Gabba after the lights went off as a consequence of a Brisbane energy failure.
It’s removed from perfect scenario for The Gabba and Brisbane, with the stadium set to host the 2032 Olympic Video games after a redevelopment of the venue.
The Gabba reportedly doesn’t have a back-up energy provide.
Earlier within the sport, Melbourne captain Max Gawn appeared to undergo a severe knee harm and was substituted out of the sport in heartbreaking scenes.
