One rule for the reckless, another one for sports fans
Yet again, I couldn’t go and watch my favourite football team at the weekend. Neither could my friends. Thanks to our inept government, I have no idea when we will be able to enjoy sitting or standing the freezing cold watching a dismal 1-0 home defeat again.
The same applies to fans of all professional clubs now the pause button has been pushed on the pilot events, and all due to a virus which recently wasn’t in the list of top 10 causes of death in the UK and which is so deadly that over 99 per cent of the people who catch it make a full recovery.
When will Pompey fans next be able to rack up at Fratton Park and boo their team off, shouting ‘Jackett out’ at regular intervals? Who knows?
Who knows anything these days, in these weird and frankly not wonderful days we are existing in. Not living, we don’t do that anymore. We exist.
Yes, there are more important things in life than attending football matches or other major sporting events. But we need to put that in context. There are more important things in life than going to a pub or eating out in a restaurant as well, but we can still do those things (before 10am).
The ban on allowing football fans into grounds at ‘elite’ level - which covers Havant & Waterlooville in the sixth tier of the pyramid all the way up to the Premier League giants - is worthy of further comment.
Havant director Trevor Brock, speaking to The News last week following the bombshell news regarding the return of crowds, said three words which I guess have been used by many people since early March.
‘Logic escapes me.’
Indeed. There is no point looking for logic in a lot of the government’s response to the pandemic, needles and haystacks come to mind.
Next Saturday Havant host Horsham in the FA Cup. Because they are classified as ‘elite sport’ - due to the fact they pay their players - the tie will be behind closed doors. A few miles down the road Gosport Borough can admit 600 fans for their FA Cup tie, because Borough play a division lower than Havant and are classed as ‘non-elite’ by the powersthat-be.
It’s a worrying situation, as those ‘elite’ non-league clubs are due to start their competitive season next weekend behind closed doors. Clubs at that level, as Brock explained, might play at ‘elite’ level ‘but we don’t have elite funding.’ ‘Elite’ sports clubs are not irresponsible, not like the pub in Portsmouth last week that offered pints of snakebite for £1.50 and were rewarded with a huge, snaking, non-socially distanced crowd outside the venue. That was a disgrace, a kick in the guts for everyone involved in sport who has worked damned hard in recent months to make their grounds Covid-safe - only to be kicked in the guts by the government last week.
It might surprise some to learn that football fans can be responsible
Some people insist the government should offer a rescue package to clubs like Havant, in the same way they have given the arts and culture industry around £1.5 billion.
No doubt those who don’t like sport would argue why the state should bail-out football clubs, but then this is the society we now live in - everyone has to complain about something. Theatres and concert venues are worth saving, but so are our community sports clubs. You can’t argue which should receive preferential treatment.
At the moment, though, our theatres remain empty and our ‘elite’ sports stadia also. And - guess what I’m going to write next? - all while our pubs remain open. I have nothing against pubs, I’ve spent a large fortune in them down the years, but at least they can still open their doors, they can still make money.
It is right they remain open, so long as those who use them are responsible. It might surprise some to learn that football fans can be responsible too. It’s not 1985 any more. I’ve been to a few non-league games recently and I haven’t seen crowds huddling together like the one pictured outside the Astoria pub in Portsmouth last week.
But, according to our government, that’s ok. Want to drink yourself senseless indoors? Go ahead, help the economy. It’s disgusting beyond belief to then see sports clubs punished with possibly no crowds for six months. While the reckless throw pints of cider and lager down their necks, the sensible are denied doing what they love.