No roar of the crowd

IF FOOTBALL was coming home, it did so very quietly, slipping in the back door and being careful not to make too much noise, writes Tom Roche.

That’s certainly how it seemed as North Cyprus bars put their customers’ favourite sport back on screen this week – only to find few fans wanted to turn up.

Perhaps it was the fact that the first televised game for 100 days was the only-mildly appealing Aston Villa v Sheffield United. Or it could be the peculiariy sterile atmosphere (not) generated by virtually empty stadiums and artificial crowd noises fed from a video game. It may even have been worries over social distancing and all that, although, outside of bars and restaurants, this seems to be less than rigourously applied.

To be fair, as they say in those post-match interviews, there was no lack of commitment on the players’ behalf and the tackles clattered in.

EMPTY

Whatever the reason, sports bars were disappointly empty for those proprieters who have kept going during the lockdown and were looking forward to getting back to near-normal.

At Kings Kebap and Sports Bar in Alsancak, no one came to see the Villa game, although a couple of diehard football fans did arrive for the later Manchester City- Arsenal clash – despite the fact that both are Manchester United supporters!

Kings regulars Dave Thornton and Alan Fairley hardly needed the little paper “reserved” notes popped on the bar in their honour but settled down happily with a couple of beers.

“We would have come anyway, but I expect there will be a better

Dave Thornton (left) and Alan Fairley. Right, Kings Kebap Jennifer Pickett pours a cold one

turn out for the Spurs -Manchester United game on Friday,” said Alan.

“Last year we watched Manchested Unitd play in Germany to an empty stadium and it is really weird with no crowd. But we’re pleased that the season is going to be played out and look forward to seeing more matches.”