THE STATE OF PLAY
How close is your favourite sport to making its post-lockdown return?
As behind-closed-doors action in England restarts today with horse racing at Newcastle and snooker in Milton Keynes, we look at where some of the big sports find themselves in preparation for a comeback…
ATHLETICS
The track and field season has been decimated by the pandemic, with the Olympics postponed and the European Championships and London Anniversary Games cancelled. A revised calendar of one-day meetings is planned, including the Gateshead Diamond League the week after the British Championships in Manchester, which are set to be held on August
8-9.
Athletes are now once again allowed to have one-toone training with coaches, as long as they maintain social distancing.
CRICKET
Domestic cricket will not start until August 1 at the earliest. England, though, are set to begin a three-Test series against West Indies on July 8. The Tests are scheduled to be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl and Lancashire’s Old Trafford. But the series still has to get approval from the Government – and the West Indies squad would have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Options for playing domestic first-class and limitedovers competitions will be presented to the ECB this month.
CYCLING
The rescheduled Tour de France is expected to take place from August 29-September 20, with the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana overlapping in October to complete a crowded period of three Grand Tours in just 72 days. Major races on world governing body UCI’s schedule are due to begin from August 1.
FOOTBALL
The first two Premier League matches are pencilled in for June 17 and the Championship is expected to restart on June 20 if rubber-stamped in a meeting a week today. League One’s future will be decided at the same meeting. League Two voted on May 15 to curtail the season and the four play-off teams are preparing and getting tested ready for a final vote confirming its format. The FA Cup final is set for August 1 with the quarter-finals taking place on June 27-28 and semi-finals on July 18-19. European competition would then resume, with the Champions League final on August 29.
FORMULA ONE
The season is scheduled to get under way with back-to-back races in Austria, the first on July 5, but there could be further cancellations. The hope is still to have between 15 and 18 races, ending in December. Fans will initially be banned and will certainly be absent from Silverstone if the circuit gets the go-ahead to hold races on the first two weekends in August.
GOLF
The PGA Tour is still due to start on June 11 at Fort Worth, Texas, without fans, while the British Masters will get the European Tour under way on July 22. It will be the start of a six-event run in this country, culminating in the UK Championship at the Belfry. However, senior players such as Rory McIlroy, left, have spoken out about their desire to postpone September’s Ryder Cup until it can be played with spectators.
TENNIS
Jamie Murray has organised the Schroders Battle of the Brits event from June 23-28 at Roehampton, with brother Andy, below, a confirmed participant along with Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans. It marks the start of a number of LTA events designed to kickstart tennis in this country. Internationally, the ATP Tour still has an unlikely July 13 return date but without crowds, and there are already doubts over the Australian Open in January.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Super League clubs are working on three models to return, starting in early August with different finish dates in November, December and January. That will initially be behind closed doors but they are hopeful crowds could be back in October. The Championship and League One have created working groups to see if playing again in 2020 is financially feasible. Australia’s NRL returned at the weekend.
RUGBY UNION
England’s Premiership clubs will find out on Thursday when they can play again, but it is unlikely to be before the end of July. The plan is for them to return to Phase One training this week. There are still nine rounds to go, plus play-offs. The Pro14 has pencilled in an August 22 restart date. Test-playing nations and European Cup chiefs hope to stage fixtures in September but that is unlikely, which means we will have to wait a while to see England and skipper Owen Farrell, left, playing on the big stage again.