A vital part of any major sporting event is the roar of the crowd, but coronavirus could silence that sound.

It’s already making its impact felt with the Matilda’s set to play their next Olympic qualifier against Vietnam in front of an empty stadium.

Performance and well-being specialist Dr Dee Anderson spoke to Deborah Knight about the impact crowd-less games would have on athletes.

“Very, very elite athletes playing in front of nobody, I think will be quite strange for them initially, but then they’re so focused on the job at hand that I doubt very much whether it will impact individual play to the level that we think it will.” 

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Dr Anderson says that the impact will vary across different sporting events. 

Some sports, like softball, often don’t have big crowds, and she says they are likely to adjust faster. On the other hand, track and field athletes often pump up the crowd to hype themselves up before their event.

The NRL and AFL are quite fan-centric sports and with their seasons about to kick-off, both codes have admitted they are open to closing the grounds to fans.

Image: Getty/Mark Kolbe