PLAYERS WANT BARBER TESTED
oNE Premier league club are coming under intense pressure from their players to use one of their precious 60 coronavirus testing kits on the barber many of them use. Much to the amusement of some of their rivals, the unnamed side are said to be seriously considering the request.
Whether the Premier league — or the public — would see the funny side should they bring the hairdresser into the training ground remains to be seen.
ASCOT chiefs clearly think racing fans are unaffected by the biggest economic crash this country has seen. The racecourse is charging £45 for a cream tea for two to be delivered to punters wanting to experience Royal Ascot at Home this week. Gamblers wanting to drown their sorrows with a bottle of champagne or wine have to pay extra.
Royal ascot begins tomorrow but more significant for the sport as a whole is that betting shops can reopen this morning.
With shops paying around £30,000 each a year in media rights, a valuable income stream has been switched back on for the cash-starved sport.
Pessimism about how many shops would open has been overcome and ladbrokescoral will operate 2,445 of their shops in England out of a total of 3,000.
shops in scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland remain closed. THE pandemic may have seen off the famous bookmakers’ blue pen. Some want punters to call over their bets at the till, rather than write them down, and pens will not be permitted for multiple use. Those wishing to take a flutter on the High Street will have a very different experience. One firm, BoscaBet, has been busy installing table dividers, machine dividers and paperless solutions. Coffee machines and toilets will also be out of bounds, with punters encouraged to speed through and watch races at home. thIs summer’s test matches — to be held at old trafford and the ageas Bowl — are causing issues for the groundsmen. at hampshire, simon lee, who will face his first test on July 8, has been told he will have to designate individual cubicles in the toilet block for his staff of nine. the group may end up feeling like rock stars, with nobody else allowed to use the loos. clUBs wary of making enemies in the media have sought direction from the Premier league on which outlets should make up their 25 press box seats.
they felt it was unfair to ask them to choose between national and local newspapers, websites and agencies and there were concerns among media departments that it may backfire if they select one outlet over another.
the league has guided that there should be no more than two international outlets, no more than one reporter from each and 13 in total from the national papers and that both three home and two away local press should be allowed in. three agency staff also get the green light.
PrEMiEr LEaguE chiefs are hopeful footballers will be excluded from those who need to quarantine for 14 days when coming into the uK. Players had raised concerns over what would happen if they have to leave to visit poorly family members overseas. as things stand, they would have to be out of action for two weeks, but the matter is being reviewed on June 29 with the competition confident an exemption will be granted.