Professional: An eerily empty new normal
If New Zealand’s rugby players and netballers want some guidance about what awaits them in the next month or so, they could do worse than listen to Black Cap Jimmy Neesham.
Neesham knows what it is like to play in an empty stadium – a necessity under alert level two – and as he told Stuff’s Inside My Bubble series, it takes some getting used to.
‘‘It was bizarre,’’ Neesham said of the Black Caps’ crowd-free match against Australia in March.
‘‘It was totally different to playing in front of no spectators at a normal ground, at a normal club ground where it’s open and there’s grass and trees and stuff, whereas at the SCG which I think holds 30-odd thousand.
‘‘I don’t think it was an experience any of the guys will be keen to repeat any time soon because it was kind of eerie and lockdown allowed him another six weeks to get over a serious concussion he suffered when he was struck on the head by a freekick during a Central League game last year.
He said the most challenging aspect would be policing mass gatherings of 100 people at venues that were not enclosed.
Ifill, who runs an academy in Nelson and Wairarapa, expected there to be one major change when football returns.
He expected clubs to shift away from paying players and recruiting from overseas as sponsorship and quite strange,’’ Neesham said.
Welcome to the new abnormal of sport in Covid-19 era. Sport can return at alert level two, just don’t expect it to be the same.
Rugby players know this. Stuff asked rugby players union boss Rob Nichol last month about whether his gaming trust money dried up, but believed that would have long-term benefits for football in New Zealand.
‘‘If you’re looking to bring players from overseas, they can’t get into the country and where do you get the money from? I’d be embarrassed to go and ask somebody for sponsorship right athletes were prepared for the mental challenge of playing without the roar of the crowd, and said it was just one of many new hurdles they would have to face.
There will be regular health check-ups, a gradual return to group training and a relentless focus on now.
‘‘I think it will change club football but I think it will change for the better.
‘‘A lot of clubs will have to invest in their youth and look to bring players through, and that’s what it should be about.’’
While a decision on when the country will move into level two is hygiene that will remind all players that these are challenging times.
Still, it is the absence of spectators at the games that will have the most profound impact.
Home teams might find that their advantage disappears and players who tap into the emotion provided from the stands will have to find other ways to motivate themselves.
In fact, the relationship between the fan and player is so important that NBA legend LeBron James recently said he wouldn’t want to play without spectators.
‘‘We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible,’’ James said. ‘‘I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my team-mates, and I play for the fans.’’
James later walked back those remarks a touch, but his point remains.
There is a bigger picture, however. Sport has to start due on Monday, Ifill believed it would take two weeks for players to reach a level of fitness required to be competitive and suggested increasing the number of substitutions from three to five as a temporary measure.
NZ Football has previously indicated that football will not resume any earlier than May 30. somewhere. The revenue tap needs to be turned on, even if it just a dribble to start with.
There will be complaints that crowd-free games are ‘simply for Sky’ but without the broadcaster New Zealand Rugby’s books turn blood red and we decrease the chances of getting to the stage when games are held in full stadia again.
New Zealand’s franchises are meeting remotely this weekend to get the national game up and running again.
There is clearly some a lot of detail to get through before they announce a plan early next week of what the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition looks like.
The only guarantee is that it will be quieter and possibly even confronting when we see all those empty seats.
However, in the coronavirus era sports fans would be prepared to live with that.