Friday's A-League clash between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory at Suncorp Stadium has been postponed indefinitely by the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) due to safety concerns surrounding the effects of a tropical cyclone on the Queensland state coast.
Cyclone Marcia hit the central coast of Queensland about 650 kilometers (about 400 miles) north of capital Brisbane on Friday morning. Torrential rain, high winds and storm surges in the ocean and rivers are expected to create dangerous situations in Brisbane and the Gold Coast as well.
"We have decided to postpone the Brisbane Roar vs. Melbourne Victory match at Suncorp Stadium due to safety concerns and also out of respect for all of those in Queensland facing the potential disaster of Cyclone Marcia," A-League head Damien de Bohun told the FFA official website.
"FFA liaised with a broad range of stakeholders including the Queensland Government, police and emergency services and we received consistent information that we would be putting players, fans and staff at risk if we played the match.
"Residents in southeast Queensland are being advised by police and emergency services to stay indoors. So it is inappropriate for us to play a football match in these circumstances. We are also mindful of taking emergency resources away from the disaster areas in southeast Queensland."
FFA will announce a revised date for the postponed game at a later stage.
Melbourne Victory -- who are second in the standings with 33 points from 17 matches -- would have leapfrogged leaders Perth Glory temporarily if they had secured the maximum of three points against Brisbane Roar.
Perth Glory -- who have a point more from the same number of games -- will travel to the AAMI Park to take on Victory's city rivals, Melbourne City, on Sunday.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.