Sport
Football in last chance saloon after COVID-19 breaches
With COVID-19 continuing to possess a vice like grip on the sporting world, football is feeling its full effects. After a raft of postponements and protocol breaches, many are questioning whether competitive action within the UK should be allowed to continue.
Because although most of those who take to the field should be commended for their continued efforts and the fact that they are risking their health for the entertainment of others, one must remember that they are also in a highly privileged position.
Durig the COVID-19 crisis, footballers have retained an element of liberty that most others haven’t. Supporters up and down the country who have truly little freedom at the moment have witnessed a number of players abuse that freedom and with every new lapse in judgement, these superstars are increasingly viewed as being above the law.
Football and the wider community are going through something of a rocky patch in the COVID-19 epidemic at present and when photos of ill-judged decisions are widely circulated, it can only be considered as a kick in the teeth for those who are sticking to the rules.
Like so many other things in life, it ultimately comes down to optics and with the trio of Erik Lamela, Giovani Lo Celso and Sergio Regullion partying along with West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini over the festive period, many will have wondered what makes them so special.
The most pertinent question that must be asked, is whether the players collectively stuck two fingers up at the current system or whether it was a genuine lapses in judgement. Although it might not be that extreme in terms of their thought process, their decision-making process is right to be questioned.
Will those involved be upset that they broke their rules, or will they be upset that they got caught? The answer is most likely the latter and although the likelihood is that they will have copped a hefty fine for their infringements, perhaps their punishment should be less financial and more pragmatic.
Because when you consider the toil that front line workers are constantly dealing with, the quest to finish in the top four or avoid relegation to the Championship pales into significance.
Of course, it is not practical or safe for the likes of Lamela and Lo Celso to visit a hospital in this current climate, but they should certainly be made to carry out some charity work on behalf of Tottenham Hotspur in the not-too-distant future.
At the same time, it is not just football players who are currently in the crosshairs of COVID-19 and although Marine will undoubtedly have had a day to remember when Jose Mourinho bought his men to Crosby, the sight of supporters bundled together outside around the ground was an uneasy one.
Nobody wants to be the party-pooper at such a memorable event for the 8th tier club, but at the same time common sense must prevail in a situation such as this and even though Merseyside Police were happy with such feverous fandom, the rest of the sporting nation were not.
While it has not been a good look for the beautiful game on either side of Hadrian’s Wall in the past couple of weeks and with Celtic having to undergo a mass isolation after their controversial trip to Dubai, there is a sense that their decision to go to Middle East has come back to bite them.
With Christopher Julien subsequently catching a bout of the disease while being transported either to or from the airport, it meant that as many as 13 players along with manager Neil Lennon and his assistant Jon Kennedy missed their lacklustre 1-1 draw with Hibernian.
Those further dropped points surely hands a first Scottish Premiership in 10 seasons to Rangers and probably sees Celtic’s man in charge given a P45 at the end of what has largely been a forgettable campaign.
Celtic aren’t the only football club in the midst of a COVID-19 crisis though, with the virus having swept through the Aston Villa camp, their meeting with Everton has now been postponed. It is the second cancellation for Dean Smith and his men, who would have been preparing for the visit of Tottenham at Villa Park on Wednesday, a fixture that subsequently pivoted to Jose Mourinho’s charges entertaining local rivals Fulham instead.
Scott Parker took some umbrage with that particular decision and, although you can understand his frustration, you do have to ask whether Tottenham should be punished by the potential of ludicrous fixture congestion, because of the ailments of others.
If advice was taken from the competition’s Scottish cousins, then a 3-0 walkover victory would be in place and in doing so, it would lessen the pinch points that look almost certain to appear over the next few weeks. They the potential to severely impact an already delayed European Championships and with UEFA set to make an absolute decision on its staging in March, the last thing they can afford are more domestic delays.
Football must now to get its house in order and this message has drummed into the clubs by the Premier League. Clubs have been warned to take every precaution they can against COVID-19 at present because the stakes for football and life in general are far too high.
You could earn up to £100 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.
