Suspension of football has to be last resort. It keeps us going
Game is a glorious distraction and crucial to the fabric of society so should continue if it is within the bounds of safety to do so
In Italy, the former Roma midfielder Damiano Tommasi has written to the government and the league to say that, following the coronavirus outbreak, “stopping football is the most useful action for the country at this moment”.
Tommasi is president of the players’ association, so his call carries weight and is the equivalent of Ben Purkiss, the Professional Footballers’ Association chairman, demanding the same measure.
Last night he got his wish with all sport in Italy – including Serie A games – suspended until at least April 3. Given the whole of Italy is now in quarantine as the country fights to contain the virus, stopping a sport being played would not appear to be a huge price to pay.
The measures in Italy, the second worst-affected country after China, probably equate to the largest restriction on the movement of people in a western democracy since the end of the Second World War. How then does a sport, any sport, matter in the face of the danger posed when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte used Churchillian tones to call it “Italy’s darkest hour?”
But it does matter. Clearly health comes first and last. The real and present danger of coronavirus cannot be underestimated and has to be dealt with as strongly as is practical. But sport – and football in particular – is the glorious distraction that is such a crucial part of the fabric of society. It is one of the things that keeps us going; a collective passion that is for many, as another Italian, Arrigo Sacchi, famously said, “the most important of the least important things in life”.
That may sound trite. Non-sports lovers will disagree. But, for so many people, it is.
Suspending football has to be a last resort. It is not that it should not happen – that evidently depends on medical advice – but it should not happen precipitously.
To adapt a football cliche, we have to take each day as it comes, especially with an issue developing as quickly as this one.
There has to be a staged reaction if it escalates – the first stage of which would be to play games behind closed doors, as is happening in Italy, and which is starting to feel inevitable in the
Premier League. Although that would be a shame, it would at least mean the game carries on. It is nothing to be afraid of.
The Government has told the Football Association, along with the other sports governing bodies, that it will resist rushing into cancelling events unless the scientific evidence is clear, and that has to be right. It is not about trying to keep a stiff upper lip but, rather, allowing life to continue as normally as possible, especially if other restrictions are in place.
Footballers may live in their own little bubble, but they are not hermetically sealed environments immune from the spread of disease and illness. In saying that, they can remain relatively distant and it is not too much to ask for them to carry on under the current climate to provide the entertainment that so many crave.
If games are played without fans, then it also makes it all the more important that the Government reaches unanimous agreement with broadcasters to allow all to be shown free-to-air – and that includes lifting the 3pm blackout on Saturdays but, at the same time, banning them from being shown in pubs, bars and public places to stop people congregating.
It poses a greater problem for fans lower down the leagues, but that could be dealt with creatively. There are television cameras at all the games, so why not broadcast them live on club websites? Or hand them over to terrestrial TV for free? It would work, as would more people turning to their radios to listen to commentaries.
Football matches might even feel like greater congregations; greater talking points and relief from the other restrictions placed on normal life if it comes to it. A complication would be European matches, but the potential exposure of players can be limited, especially if there is a crosscontinent agreement to play the matches without fans being there.
England’s friendly against Italy at the end of this month should be a casualty, because it is not a match against France in the Women’s Six Nations at the weekend, which was called off because a player tested positive. Other players and staff had to go into self-isolation.
Suspending football would cause chaos and huge disappointment and lead to the strangest post-war season, but it may come to that. It would probably also end the season, given how congested the calendar is. Rescheduling games could happen, but the backlog might just rule it out. That would lead to all kinds of sporting and financial ramifications – who wins leagues, who goes up or down and so on.
Not that it should really matter. As already stated, health comes first and last. It is always the most important factor, but it does feel within the bounds of safety that there is also an obligation to try to carry on, to try to provide some relief and some communion, even if it is not physical, as only football can for so many people.