MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
Arbitrary attendance limits are another sign of a Government all at sea in coronavirus storm
THIS Government hasn’t exactly impressed since the moment it was finally cobbled together after weeks of negotiation. To use a sporting analogy, it has already lost the dressing room at a time when the country needs strong and decisive leadership. And they have done little to engender public trust.
Before it was revealed yesterday that Stephen Donnelly was feeling unwell and had to self-isolate, the Minister for Health appeared on RTÉ’s News at One and suggested that the opposition were ‘intentionally trying to confuse the message’ — except all of the confusion has come from a Government that looks increasingly unsure of itself with each passing day.
There has been no starker illustration of the muddled thinking that has characterised their response to the pandemic than their treatment of sport. Sporting administrators were left scratching their heads again yesterday as it was decreed that 200 spectators would be permitted into grounds with a capacity of more than 5,000, with 100 into smaller venues.
The feeling was that hardpressed clubs and organisations would be better off remaining behind closed doors, rather than having to select a few supporters to get the golden ticket. Yet again, it seems like the figure of 200 was simply an arbitrary number plucked from thin air.
There had been some suggestion that 500 may be allowed, although the sporting bodies themselves felt that was a tad optimistic. But there was hope that the number would at least be 400, falling into line with GAA matches across the border. But that would have followed a certain logic, which seems to have been neglected in this ‘Living with Covid’ plan.
So, only 200 spectators will be allowed into the Gaelic Grounds and Semple Stadium for the county finals in Limerick and Tipperary. Spare a thought for the club secretaries who must decide which 100 supporters are most deserving of a coveted ticket, especially in Drumcliff-Rosses Point, who will make history this weekend by contesting their maiden Sligo SFC final.
And there will be some counties out there who will feel it’s not worth their while to open the games up to such a paltry number. It eliminates the whole family element on the GAA’s biggest days. After all, if a club is confined to only 100 tickets, there will be no family of four or five going to the county final.
And what of League of Ireland clubs, who often struggled to survive in a hand-to-mouth existence before the outbreak of the coronavirus? Will the 200 patrons being allowed into Finn Park, Terryland Park or Turners Cross make much of a difference to their coffers? Hard to see.
At least, Shamrock Rovers have been spared the unenviable task of deciding which 100 of their fans should get to see AC Milan in the flesh tomorrow evening. Even though the Government has decreed that 100 spectators can go to sporting events in Dublin, UEFA ruled in July that all of their sanctioned games should take place behind closed doors as the rules around attendance at sporting events differed across Europe.
This coming Saturday, though, 100 fortunate Leinster supporters will get to feel like Charlie Bucket on his way to the Chocolate Factory when they gain entry to see the Champions Cup quarter-final against Saracens. One of the unintended consequences of plucking this arbitrary number of 200 from the sky is that there will be a division of have and have-nots within supporters of clubs.
One of the issues that has angered those involved in sport administration is the suggestion that they couldn’t organise the safe entry and exit of a certain number of spectators into grounds. It feeds into a wider perception from the treatment of sport by the National Public Health Emergency team (NPHET) and the Government that the public can’t be trusted to behave in a responsible manner.
As Donnelly himself pointed out yesterday, the vast majority of people are following the rules the vast majority of the time. So why wouldn’t sports fans behave in a similar manner?
There will always be one or two who flout the rules, but remember there were around 700 idiotic people marching in Dublin last week against the wearing of face-masks and as it stands, that’s 500 more than are allowed to watch a sporting event.
As NPHET and the Government feel their way through this crisis, the sense has developed that sport has provided an easy cover. When sport was put back behind closed doors last month, the decision was met with howls of protest, with the GAA making the reasonable demand of empirical evidence that sporting matches have resulted in spikes — the association had 60,000 children going to Cúl Camps over the summer with only one positive case which was contracted elsewhere.
That evidence was not forthcoming, despite the association being able to play a remarkable number of club games over the summer with little or no Covid scares.
At the time, we felt that sport was being used by NPHET and the Government as a way to convey its message that infection rates were starting to grow and we shouldn’t be complacent. Sport has played its part during the pandemic — and has offered some solace as we have tried to return to some sort of normality.
They always knew it would play a key part, hence the three
‘Allowing 200 souls into a game is too small a step’
main sporting organisations — GAA, FAI and IRFU — coming together to establish a working group to devise a roadmap for the safe return of supporters to stadia.
But there needs to be some give and take. Allowing 200 lucky souls through a turnstile seems too small a step, especially when the data to arrive at such a number is never revealed.
Perhaps, it is time for this Government to start trusting a greater number of spectators that they will do the right thing inside of venues. Maybe then, there might be a small bit more confidence that this government is doing the right thing. Trust is a two-way street, after all.