SPFL must get timing right for players to avoid injury
THE thorny issue over when football clubs will return to action has replaced the incessant chatter over the fallout to the SPFL vote, the Rangers dossier and failed attempts at league reconstruction (notwithstanding the latest, likely abortive, efforts of Hearts owner Ann Budge). With residual matters resolved superficially, it has allowed the game to focus its collective efforts on finding a suitable date for a resumption.
Over the weekend Ian Maxwell, the SFA chief executive, suggested that August is the outline timeframe in which it is expected that top-flight clubs in Scotland might begin the 20/21 season.
The Inverness Caledonian Thistle chairman, Ross Morrison, had indicated that his club was preparing for a worst-case scenario of January. In the best instance, Championship clubs are focusing on an October return, a more conservative estimate than their Premiership counterparts.
“We have a four-to-six-week training schedule, which the medical group are working through,” said Maxwell. “Those six weeks can be regardless of whenever the start date of a division is.”
Whatever the outcome, the wheels are turning again across Europe. In England yesterday, Championship clubs began full-contact training while, on Sunday, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a June 8 resumption for La Liga.
Elsewhere, it is not so clear cut. The hope for clubs with the Sword of Damocles hanging over them is that a restart is sooner rather than later. But much depends on the speed of the emergence from lockdown and, clearly, whether there is a second spike in infections. Health matters have been on the minds of players in England with some such as Troy Deeney at Watford and Glen Murray at Brighton voicing their opinions publicly on their opposition to a return at all costs.
Cynics suggest that it seems a little too convenient with both players’ clubs firmly ensconced in the relegation zone. But who are they to argue about what people exposing themselves to the virus – Watford and Brighton have reported five and three positive tests respectively – should or should not do?
It is not just for fear of infection that players will be mindful. In the Bundesliga, one study after the first week of matches post-lockdown, indicated that there had been a 226% increase in injuries prior to the suspension of German football. Those figures recognised the small sample size and the overly cautious approach from clubs in relation to any and every injury. The report noted that Gio Reyna was injured in the warm-up prior to Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 win over Schalke and Thorgan result of the lack of revenue being generated – in Scotland, see Dunfermline Athletic and Queen of the South – a rushed or incomplete strategy aimed at the swift return of football will leave players exposed to a greater risk of injury. In turn, particularly in the lower leagues where contracts will be short and there are unlikely to be any guarantees over payments while injured, players may find themselves out on a limb.
Maxwell’s four-to-six week sliding scale looks ambitious at the lower end of it, not to mention potentially dangerous if the Bundesliga, which was in hiatus for 40 days, is anything to go by in the early days of its return.