Safety first as medical protocols set to be deliberated
PLAYERS and managers will be presented with medical protocols related to the Premier League’s Project Restart next week.
The English top flight is working on plans to complete the 2019-20 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, dependent on Government advice.
League Managers’ Association chief executive Richard Bevan said there was no suggestion players or managers were being coerced into a restart and that plans to ensure safety, including testing procedures, would be outlined next week.
He said: “Hopefully there will be solutions that create this safe environment, in the meantime we’re staying very open-minded and, as always, the managers take their responsibility to the game very seriously on all these issues.”
Bevan said he was expecting to receive the protocols in document form today.
He added: “It covers testing, tracking, PPE (personal protective equipment) available, clear guidelines on social distancing and a safe environment to train and play.
“There will be guidance on cardiology, mental and emotional wellbeing and I think the message is health is the guiding principle to any decision-making.”
A seven-page document, drawn up by the Premier League’s director of football Richard Garlick, talks about players wearing masks or snoods at training.
Epidemiologist Rowland Kao said: “It’s unclear how much protection those masks would be, but it would seem sensible to put as many precautions as you could in place.’’
But Brighton striker Glenn Murray branded the idea of wearing face masks as “farcical”.
Bevan said there was no suggestion managers would be involved in any coercion of players.
“They’re the voice and leaders of clubs and teams but they always demonstrate calm leadership and that’s what we need,” he said.
“Whatever the pressures, physical, psychological well-being of players, coaches and indeed all the personnel,
They’re the voice and leaders of clubs and teams but they always demonstrate calm leadership and that’s what we need.
that will come first and foremost.”
It has been reported that Premier League club doctors have written to Garlick and the league’s medical adviser Mark Gillett posing 100 questions about the return-to-play protocols. They outline various concerns, including approving guidelines which still carry the threat of death, liability, testing and insurance, transmission of the virus via sweat and goalkeeper gloves, suspicions that some clubs are already ignoring guidelines, an increased risk to BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) employees, and the ability of emergency services to attend training ground incidents.
Meanwhile, the German Bundesliga looks set to be the first of Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues to resume after the federal government gave the go-ahead.
Clubs in the top two tiers of German football have been back in training since last month and chancellor Angela Merkel told regional authorities yesterday that competition could restart in the second half of May. The 36 clubs will hold a conference call today to finalise a resumption date.
Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium has followed France and Holland in officially ending its season.
The Belgian Pro League will hold a meeting on May 15 about how to end the campaign after the country’s national security council barred any professional football competition taking place in the country before the end of July.