Pros can play but the rest must lay off
In European sports, amateurs feel that lockdowns leave them at a loose end
With novel coronavirus infections once again raging in Europe and many countries reluctantly reimposing strict lockdowns, measures being adopted, including in areas such as education and professional sports, differ to those in the first wave.
European countries are now unanimous in their resolve not to close schools, colleges and universities and agree to continue staging professional sports events for the sake of their populations’ mental health.
The decision not to halt professional sports, including soccer, rugby, horse racing, snooker and tennis, shows that governments are well aware of sports’ importance to mental well- being.
But with fans no longer allowed to gather in stadiums the way they used to or even around TVs in bars, the atmosphere and economics will be different. It clearly will be a struggle to make sports work, financially and logistically, in the coming months.
Alison McGovern, the spokeswoman on sports issues for the United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party, warned the government that answers will be needed soon on how things will work, especially if smaller professional sports entities that have been running on a shoestring are to survive.
“Yet again, sport and physical well- being is an afterthought,” McGovern said after learning that the Football Association’s Women’s National League was unsure about its future after the lockdown was announced.
While soccer’s Premier League has been told it can continue to compete in televised matches, and while those clubs will be able to generate a reasonable income from doing so, it is unclear whether smaller professional clubs and less popular sports will be able to rely on income from TV networks.
The Sports and Recreation Alliance, which represents national sports organizations, including the Football Association and Rugby Football Union, said the UK’s new lockdown could “prove to be the final nail in the coffin for a number of ( smaller) clubs”.
The Football Association said it was “awaiting further information before we can confirm how this may affect nonelite ( soccer) across England”.
Oliver Dowden, the UK’s culture secretary, told the BBC: “We understand people will have a lot of questions and ( Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) officials and ministers will be working through these and detailed implications with sectors over the coming days.”
Mental health
While professional sports will be allowed to continue for the good of people’s mental health, grassroots sports have been banned during recent European lockdowns, meaning people will be unable to turn to them for the good of their health.
In the wake of gyms, pools and leisure centers in the UK being ordered to close, the Sport for Development Coalition think tank called on the government to provide funding to help the venues and clubs survive the lockdown.
It told the BBC that the government must do all it can to “support mental well- being, contribute to tackling social isolation, facilitate community connections and engage young people excluded from education and employment”.
Sport England, the government department under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that aims to build the foundations of community sports, said grassroots sports face “difficult days ahead”.
“Sport England already has several live funding packages available to help support grassroots clubs and organizations ( that) have lost vital income this year,” it said.
Sky Sports reported that some grassroots sports associations are lobbying the government for the lockdown to be relaxed so people can take part in healthy activities believed to carry little risk of exposure to COVID- 19, such as golf, horseback riding and archery.