Chants would be a fine thing
FOOTBALL has come home, so they say, and there seems to be two or three Premiership games screened on TV every day. I’m not complaining.
What I found bizarre were those channels that provide crowd sounds, even though stadiums are empty. In quiet passages of play there is a background hum of expectation, when a team breaks forward the response is rising tension and excitement, groans when a chance is missed, rapturous cheers when a goal is scored.
Sorry, I can’t be doing with all this. I wondered at the plight of some technician in charge of the dials who was required to respond to the live action to get the reaction right. What if he got it wrong and the stadium rocked with cheers at Anfield when Aston Villa scored the winner?
I much prefer to watch the match without the fakery. It’s a bit like amateur football when sides turn out to play in front of three men and a dog. Amateurs don’t need the smell of the crowd to motivate them. I’ve taken part in Sunday league bloodbaths where the urge to win was never stronger.
Real crowds are a bonus to the professionals of the Premiership, but I don’t think they are essential.
While on sport, I did wonder whether it was wise for Pakistan to bring a touring Test team over here when 10 of the 29 man squad tested positive for Covid-19 before a ball was thrown in anger.
And I was shocked at the arrogance of tennis players who ignored safety protocols to take part in an exhibition tournament in Serbia and Croatia organised by world men’s number one Novak Djokovic. As well as taking part in the game, players were shown partying in a nightclub. Djokovic and his wife have both gone down with Covid-19 as have fellow tennis players and coaching staff. When will folk learn?