Nullification is just wrong

IT’S an oddly clinical sort of a word: nullification. A word that seems out of step with sport as a lived experience. How can you nullify feeling? How can you nullify memories and experiences? How can you nullify nine months of blood, sweat and tears at the stroke of a pen?

The longer this goes on the more fearful Liverpool fans are becoming about the fate of this season’s Premier League, despite the assurances and moves clubs are making towards finishing the season starting in late June or early July. The course of the crisis in the UK – no matter how a rejuvenated Boris Johnson might like to spin it – has been far from encouraging. So when you see countries, who are dealing with the crisis a lot more effectively than old Blighty, cancelling or nullifying their leagues it’s time to get nervous.

The Dutch Eredivisie have nullified their season. No champion crowned. Nobody relegated. It’s as if it never happened. Yes, yes there are more important things to worry about, but that really would be a nightmare scenario for anybody with a drop of red flowing through their veins. If Monday’s news of the Dutch cancellation wasn’t unnerving enough, news filtered through on Tuesday afternoon that the French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe had essentially banned any professional football taking place until September at the earliest. The walls are closing in.

Over on Earth 2, where COVID-19 didn’t strike, the title would have been wrapped up weeks ago now for Jürgen Klopp’s men. It was as close to a formality as formalities get. Pep Guardiola conceded the title for crying out loud and, yet, the fear persists that after waiting thirty years for the bloody thing, it could be snatched away from Liverpool. There was a joke around December and January when Liverpool were in their absolute pomp that nothing could stop them from winning the title, except maybe the Armageddon. It was a good joke. It’s not quite as funny now, though.