Big call on Covid
mean that, on the balance of probabilities, playing football is as safe as, say, going to the supermarket or petrol station, then we must press ahead.
While clubs might still offer players such as Deeney or Kante a further week or two’s grace, if they still don’t want to play after that then there would be a legitimate argument that they are in breach of their contracts and fines could be imposed.
It was interesting to hear Jurgen Klopp say his players were under no obligation to train or play but I would feel some sympathy for clubs in that respect.
Because clubs haven’t stopped paying their wages when it wasn’t safe to play, so the fair argument would be that if scientific advice says we can play again and everything possible is being done to ensure players’ safety then, really, they ought to get their backsides back in gear both for the integrity of the league and the fact they have a contract.
If I was the PFA rep in a dressing room I’d certainly be saying, ‘Look, lads, we can’t have it both ways’.
The statistics back up that BAME people are more affected by coronavirus, but footballers aren’t on the frontline.
And if bus drivers, train drivers and Amazon drivers, or anyone else for that matter, are being told to go back to work then the same rule has to apply for footballers. A few years ago, there was talk about a triple lock being put in place to protect pensions and perhaps we should seek something similar here.
Which would be the FA, Premier League and EFL all signing off an agreement with the PFA at the start of the testing process.
Calculate
Then, if down the line, a player is found to have caught the virus or passed it on as a direct result of playing football then they could sue all of those bodies. I’d back that.
For now, though, the PFA needs to calculate the risk more precisely than anyone has done thus far and if there is only a one or two per cent risk for players then we need to get cracking again.