Footballers on holiday aren’t the cause of all our problems

IT will be football’s fault, again, of course. Imagine. Going on holiday, like normal people. How dare they? If there is a Covid-19 spike in the coming weeks, we’ll all know who to blame. Whether it is wise to eschew social distancing on a jolly in Ibiza, or risk quarantine with the new season three weeks away is another a matter, between the players and their clubs. Yet the idea the united Kingdom is in peril due to the poor example set position in wider society. They must be hyper-vigilant as it gets very confusing. You should only have close contact with people outside your household if you are in a support bubble with them.’ So how does that fit in with Matt Hancock, the over-promoted Health Secretary, telling everyone to get back to work? Indeed, how does it fit with the disorder and chaos that envelops the Government’s handling of the crisis, daily? Here’s how it is

working in Portugal. People wear masks in public places. They don’t punch each other unconscious over it. They don’t hysterically call them muzzles. They don’t treat social responsibility as a threat to civil liberty. That’s us. That’s home. Out here, if a person gets up from a poolside lounger to walk six paces to the bar to order a Coke, the mask goes on. Leave your room, pass through the hotel lobby, the mask is on.

Outside in the street, in the open air, it’s a personal choice. Some do, some don’t. Yet it hasn’t been politicised. It hasn’t been confused by contradictory government stances. And nobody appears to be waiting for squad players at Benfica to show them the way. Boris Johnson is a weak man pretending to be strong which is why he surrounds himself with incompetents, like Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. It is because of him that we appear to be seeking guidance from Jesse Lingard, while fighting at Tube stations. Epidemiologists should focus on what they do best, footballers too. And if a team cannot play due to an absence of personal responsibility that is a matter for the clubs. As for the rest of us, we know the drill: keep clean and protect each other. Football is not your teacher, nor is it the law.