Gearing up for a return
THE English Premier League announced that its two-day testing of players, coaches and staff from all participating clubs before the weekend turned out negative Covid-19 results.
This is the fourth round of testing. During the first round of tests conducted last May 17 and 18, six tested positive from three clubs. The second round from May 19 to 22 yielded two positive results while the third round of testing on May 25 and 26 saw four affirmative.
Apparently, now, it is better. And as the Premier League unanimously voted to finish the remainder of the season this coming June 17—under supervision from health and government officials—all matches played behind closed doors. Teams have played 28 or 29 matches out of the 38-match cup schedule.
League-leading Liverpool with a 27-1-1 slate and high of 82 points; 25 points ahead of second best team and defending champion, Manchester City, needs two more wins to wrap up its first league title in 30 years. The lockdown due to the global pandemic is making them wait just a little bit longer.
It is better to win it than to be handed it although I do not see anyone catching them.
With the stoppage due to the pandemic, how they take the field with the same focus, drive, and intensity—not to mention chemistry—is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure...everyone is well rested. Technically, the league should be over by now as the surviving teams—if any—look forward to the UEFA Champions League or Europa Cups.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the National Basketball Association (NBA), as reported by The Athletic, is looking to resume come the end of July. Some 64 to 65 matches have been played out of the 82-game regular season. While training has resumed, there is now word on how many of the remaining games will be played or even what the playoff format will be.
According to NBA beat reporters like Ramona Shelburne, there is a possibility that the league will continue but with every team playing and quartered at the Disney Sports Complex in Orlando.
As these two of the most popular sports leagues in the world are raring to get going, the first-ever professional sports league in the world to begin competition amid the pandemic is Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League that called, “batter up” last April 11. The move was a stroke of genius as it showed the entire world it could be done.
They were the only live sports at that time and they gained a new set of worldwide fans.
South Korea’s K-league kick-off one week ahead of the German Bundesliga returned to action in the first week of May. While there are professional sports leagues in Belarus and Nicaragua that never stopped, the Bundesliga is the first major sports league to return albeit to a totally different setting.
Aside from there being no spectators, for some teams that have thrived on home field advantage, that doesn’t seem the case anymore. Teams arrived in several buses to observe social distancing.
It was the same on the substitutes’ bench as players were feet apart and airport stairs used to bring them down to the pitch.
An average of 213 people were in the venue for the game and this included the teams, media, security, and medics. Another 109 were outside as VAR operators and security.
Players warmed up on the pitch with face masks while footballs were disinfected before kick-off, half-time, and postgame. While many goals were not celebrated, some did. Hertha Berlin players in particular.
It is reported that they will not be penalized as it is only a guideline and not a rule. And even more interestingly, five substitutes were allowed outside the usual three. I have always thought that five substitutes were the optimum one for official football matches. Here is hoping that when things get better, the fivesubstitute rule will remain in effect.
I guess, the scenes from the Bundesliga are what we will see when the Premier League returns to play in two weeks’ time.
Fans will just have to watch the matches online and read about postgame matches from newspapers or online sites.
How teams are crowned champions will be anyone’s guess at this point. How do you feed off the emotion and roar of a nonexistent crowd?
I guess, this is a price to pay for the new normal.