‘The bigger picture is health and safety’
THE Football Association of Ireland’s plan to resume Airtricity League of Ireland action on June 19 has been described as ‘unrealistic’ by Bray Wanderers captain, Dylan Barnett, who has also said playing matches behind closed doors would be an option worth exploring.
Barnett said that, as long as health and safety guidelines are adhered to, playing games without supporters wouldn’t be something that would overly bother him, although he did opine that bring football back too soon could put undue physical stress on players as they attempt to get back to fitness.
Since earmarking June 19 as a potential resumption date in accordance with UEFA guidelines concerning domestic European football, the FAI have held discussion with government, HSE, PFAI, and the 19 clubs that make up the Premier and First Divisions in order to explore options for restarting the league, including playing a shortened season behind closed doors.
On Thursday, the FAI’s Strategic Working Group met with representatives from all clubs to begin work on a pathway for the future of National League football. The meeting came two days after the FAI presented a draft document to clubs, detailing ideas of how playing behind closed doors could work.
Among these proposals, according to the Irish Independent, were the implementation of home temperature checks for players before training sessions, two team buses for away games, and no contact training.
While he said that he was open to the idea of playing games without supporters, Dylan Barnett said that the plan to resume action in the third week of June was not a realistic prospect.
‘Personally, I cannot see it happening on June 19,’ the Bray Wanderers skipper told the Wicklow People. ‘When it comes to the numbers of what we are seeing every day on the news, I don’t think it has changed enough to be able to jump back into that, because from players point of view, if we go at that date, you need four-to-six weeks training, minimum, before you think about playing matches because you will see players dropping like flies with injuries.
‘Everyone wants to get back to playing football. Some of us aren’t thinking about whether we’ll be playing in front of fans or not. Some of us just want to get back to playing for ourselves because of how much we love and enjoy it.
‘(Behind closed doors) is not a bad thing to do, I suppose it is better than having to call the whole season off and having to wait months and months until the next one starts, if that is what is going to happen.
‘The off-season is too long as it is, in my opinion. It is way too long even with the normal season so now, with all of this, it is a very long time without football.
‘First and foremost, we need to go by the guidelines and what the HSE and government will have decided.
‘We all want to get back playing football as soon as we can or even training for the few weeks before the games kick in, but we are all grown men and know that the bigger picture is health and safety, at the moment.
‘We are just waiting on the next big call, the next big shout, whether that will be from the FAI, the HSE, the government. We are kind of playing it by ear, at the moment.’