Australian football carnival incident (6)

I believe the answer is:

affair

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'incident' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'australian football carnival' is the wordplay.
'australian football' becomes 'af' (this might be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'carnival' becomes 'fair' (synonyms).
'af'+'fair'='AFFAIR'

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(Other definitions for affair that I've seen before include "A function or a romance" , "Concern, matter or illicit romance" , "A romantic intrigue" , "Romantic relationship between two unmarried people" , "Subject" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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