SOLIDARITY IN ADVERSITY
Sport may be on the backburner for now, but its role in helping our communities to cope throughout this crisis has reinforced how important it is to us all
WITH illness stalking the land and the shadow of death threatening to spread, usual concerns are made miniscule. As sporting events were cancelled over the past week, a recurring refrain was that this put sport in context.
In a world suddenly harrowed by a shocking illness, though, everything but good health becomes insignificant.
It is important not to confuse relative significance with unimportance, though. There are degrees of relevance, with shuttered schools and struggling businesses the priorities in hundreds of thousands of lives. Sport has its place, too.
Pitches are closed, training sessions are called off, fixture schedules are as blank as a snowfield.
But sport can still count in a country trying to make sense of stunned disorder. Many famous sporting names have taken to social media, sharing training tips and urging their followers to keep as active as they can.
As gyms closed, the benefits of running are celebrated across Facebook and Twitter.
Exercise routines that an entire household, cooped up in close proximity for hours on end, can complete together are popular, too.
And sport is making a more profound impact on lives shaken by uncertainty. Its central place in communities all over the island allows sport, in different codes and through different bodies, to become a hub around which supports to wider society can be organised.
Given its position as the biggest and most powerful cultural force in Ireland, it is no surprise to see the GAA leading in this regard.
Rural and urban clubs have mobilised their members, helping the vulnerable in particular.
Food and medicine is being delivered to the elderly and the isolated.
From Belmullet in the north of Mayo, to Cork’s farthest edges, clubs are harnessing their resources to make a profound difference to the lives of many who are plainly terrified.
Killyclogher GAA club in Tyrone organised a food bank appeal to support St Vincent de Paul, recognition of the sobering fact that sweeping job losses mean more than the elderly and the sick are struggling through these days.
The ready-made support network provided by sports clubs of all stripes is proving an important strength in the public health battle being waged against the spread of the coronavirus.
It was instructive that at the Government briefing on the crisis last Friday, the role played by sport was cited as an example other volunteers can follow.
Mary O’Connor is the chief executive of the Federation of Irish Sports, the representative body for governing bodies in Irish sport.
Its members are dealing with the stresses afflicting employers all over Ireland – sport is a business, too – but she is heartened by the lead taken by sportspeople in different aspects of Ireland’s response to times with no precedent.
‘What the last two weeks have shown to me, is how innovative people can be, and how they have used sport for positivity,’ she says. ‘The fun part has been throwing out challenges on social media, calling out others.
‘But then there is the goodwill of local volunteers who are eager to provide their time and deliver food to the elderly.
‘We also see individual clubs putting up sessions for kids and parents. These are opportunities for them as a family unit to do things together. Sport is supposed to be about that, it’s supposed to be about fun and enjoyment.
‘And fun and enjoyment are really needed at the moment, given what’s going on. The potential for sport to unify communities is something that we know has always been there, and we’re seeing it again now, but in different ways.’
Athletics Ireland cannot call upon the resources or membership numbers the GAA might, but they are exploring ways to encourage people to exercise by using technology to organise virtual races.
‘We have a very different set-up, in terms of some of our clubs have no facilities,’ says CEO Hamish Adams. ‘But we want to organise virtual races: you and I can run our 5K or 10K course, post our time, and compare it to everyone else.
‘So we’re going to have virtual races but also virtual training, and we want to encourage everyone to take part.
‘I look out my front door and there are loads of people running past.
‘In these difficult times, and because of social distancing, athletics, running and walking have a big advantage over other sports: you don’t need anyone else. Just get out there and do it.’
And those unable to do so are nonetheless finding solace in sport.
Ronan Doohan, the vice-chair of St Oliver Plunkett Eoghan Ruadh, explained earlier this week how his club decided to put their presence in the Dublin 7 community to a different use.
‘We have a great relationship with our local pharmacy, and they are under pressure to deliver prescriptions and medicines to people in the locality,’ he told RTÉ Radio.
‘So last week, I put out a note to our juvenile mentors. Very, very quickly, 25 members responded and we have a rota set up to do deliveries of vital medicines and prescriptions to people who are unable to leave their homes or who can’t go to the pharmacy.
‘We’re delivering the medicines between 7pm and 8pm. The shop closes at 6.30pm, and it gives the people and the staff in the pharmacy an opportunity to catch their breath after a busy day.
‘We’re able to bring those deliveries, maintain social distance and drop them to the people in their homes. We’re calling their telephone number, and they are then able to
‘PEOPLE HAVE USED SPORT FOR POSITIVITY OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS’
‘THIS IS ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVELIHOODS BECAUSE IT’S AN INDUSTRY’ ‘EVERYONE IS TALKING TO EACH OTHER TO SEE WHAT NEEDS DOING’
pick up the medicines from their doorstep.’
Social media feeds proliferate with GAA clubs offering their services in a similar way. Croke Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds are among the stadia that have, meanwhile, turned over their facilities for use as testing centres.
‘This is an ideal opportunity for us in our community to give something back to those who need it at this time,’ said Ronan Doohan.
‘And I think it’s also important for GAA clubs around the country to reflect on how they can help people in their own area over the Covid-19 crisis in the weeks ahead.’
That is happening, and when these dreadful days pass, the GAA will be central to the celebrations that follow the resumption of sport.
But there is another feature of sport’s place in a crisis-hit Ireland, and it affects those organisations that do not have the resources the biggest sports can call upon.
This is a point Mary O’Connor makes repeatedly: sport is also a business, and there are sports in this country that could struggle as badly as other small businesses.
The difficulties being endured by League of Ireland clubs has received most attention to this point.
The decision of a number of Ireland internationals, through their agents, to donate €25,000 to assist players struggling as clubs lay off staff highlighted the problem on Thursday night.
By the following morning, it was being reported that three more clubs would follow the lead of Sligo
Rovers and Drogheda United, both of which took drastic action.
Rovers have laid off all employees temporarily, and Drogheda said they would stop paying wages until they were in a position to start generating revenue again.
Sport is so emotive and so popular that the economic realities by which it must abide, the same as any other industry, can be easily overlooked.
‘It would be untrue to say that we’re not worried about job losses in the sports industry,’ says
O’Connor. ‘Sport isn’t just what you see on the playing fields and in halls around the country. This is about people’s livelihoods, because this is an industry.
‘These organisations are not immune to the effects of the coronavirus any more than other businesses are. What’s going on at the moment is that a lot of the national governing bodies (NGBs) that have full-time staff are stresstesting their business, including looking at incomes.
‘They all generate it for themselves, as well as receiving funding from Sport Ireland. But that income comes from things like membership fees, gate receipts, hosting events and tournaments, coaching education, as well as Easter camps and summer camps.
‘Because we can’t see an end-line, all those things are up in the air.
‘They are reviewing and seeing how best they can come through this and emerge out the other side, when that time arises.’
The Federation of Irish Sport published a report last October, conducted by Investec, which sought to put an economic value on the contribution of sport to Irish life.
The findings were fascinating: 39,500 people are employed directly in sport.
It supports €2.7 billion in consumer spending every year, and accounts for over two per cent of average household monthly expenditure – at a level with what families spend on clothing and footwear.
All of those figures will be greatly reduced by the impact of the past fortnight
– and the weeks and potentially months to come.
But the most immediately relevant is the one around employment figures.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs have already been lost across the economy, a flabbergasting indicator of how quickly life has been turned upside down.
‘People who are involved in sport and who work in it tend to be resilient,’ says O’Connor, ‘but it’s important they realise they are part of something bigger than themselves, that there is support for them. ‘Different clubs in different sports around the country will, for example, have taken out loans for infrastructure projects, and we would be hoping that the goodwill that the banks are showing in terms of mortgage holidays is reciprocated around those loans.
‘Think about simple things like local lottos: they are probably halted, unless some continue online. They are important because they generate serious income.
‘The lack of sport in local communities does affect the local economy too. If events aren’t going ahead, that means there is no traffic through local shops. It means the services of physios are not needed as much. ‘The extent to which sport is part of those local economies only becomes apparent when something like this happens.’
The role of the Federation is, says O’Connor, to first assess what the particular difficulties assailing a governing body might be.
Then, it is about directing them to business supports announced as part of emergency measures by the Government.
Connecting organisations whose staff may be feeling increasing stress with the correct support is critical, she says.
‘At the moment, the communication is good. There is a good sharing of knowledge between CEOs and managers within the sector. veryone is talking to each other to see what can be done.
‘There is also disappointment that the good sport brings to people is not being provided. In times of crisis, like in the recession, for example, sport brought a good feeling to people.
‘That could be short-lived, because we don’t know how long that will go on for. Ask me in four weeks’ time.
‘The nature of people involved in sport is that they are resilient and have a good attitude. We need to make sure when this crisis is over, NGBs and LSPs (local sports partnerships) are in a good place and can emerge as leaders in their community again.’
They will be needed. Commentators across sports have been day-dreaming about the day when a whistle is blown again, when the ball is thrown in, the match kicks off, the gun sounds and the runners take flight.
Those thoughts are groundless fancies for now. The sight of a tightly shaved pitch, of cars snaking for miles away from a stadium, of the sun baking players and spectators as a match that has been anticipated for weeks goes by in a sweaty blur, seem like a dreamscape.
That will change, and sport will, as Mary O’Connor hopes, lead the way to happier, lighter times.
But nobody knows when it will be, and that uncertainty is a wicked aspect of this crisis.
There is nothing for it but to heed informed advice, and prove a useful member of society where it is safe to do so.
And that is where sport continues to provide leaders in our land. It is helping deliver medicines. It’s offering simple exercise routines, and providing the established support network on which civil society now depends.
This is support of a practical, at times critical, sort that we don’t usually associate with ball games.
But of course sport is about more than the games. Compared to graver issues, it is a trifle, but isn’t everything when life and death loom so starkly in our lives?
As trivialities go, sport is proving itself a vital one in a bewildered country.