What’s the point if fans can’t sing and shout?
SIX weeks in and the new SPFL season is unravelling fast. The stitching is looser than a replica Rangers shirt from Castore.
Like a game of whack-a-mole, one coronavirus crisis is smashed down by a hammer and another one pops up. Every day is like treading on eggshells as fragile and breakable as an EU withdrawal agreement.
There were those six false negatives at St Mirren. Then the Aberdeen Soul Brothers and the two positive tests. There was an act of folly when Celtic’s Boli went on a jolly.
Then came the threat of a red card from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the postponement of five games.
Now another two St Mirren players have tested positive. And that’s before part-time players take a hammer and chisel to the full-time bubble when the Betfred Cup gets under way next month
Today, supporters return to Scottish football grounds for the first time in six months.
But there is no air of celebration. No sense of a joyous, emotional reunion. Those who get to see a game in person know they’ll be lucky to see another one this year.
And the 300 dotted around Pittodrie might find the whole business so regimented and sterile they’ll wonder why they bothered.
The very essence of Scottish football is the mayhem and irrational behaviour. But today the supporters granted a golden ticket at Aberdeen will watch the game in a climate of oppressive fear instead.
Guidelines issued by the Dons warn fans that standing is strictly forbidden.
They are required to wear face masks at all times. There should be no face-to-face interaction with other spectators. And, if the ball comes towards them, they must under no circumstances throw it back on the pitch.
Last, but not least, comes the warning that ‘chanting, shouting or singing’ are strictly forbidden.
Plenty of supporters go to a game precisely because of the chanting, shouting and singing.
Asking them to hold their wheesht is like asking Donald Trump to take the night off Twitter.
To say all this is no criticism of Aberdeen. Clubs have been terrified to death by the fear of what a Scottish Government with a record of hostile acts towards football might do if they fail to follow orders.
The Dons are only doing what they have to do to convince the politicians that supporters — as well as players — can return to football in a safe and secure environment.
Yet, the exhaustive efforts of clubs to create bio-secure hubs and get the punters back in as soon as possible are beginning to look like a waste of time and money. Maintaining the illusion of normality around this season is becoming harder with every passing day.
The fans are not coming back any time soon.
Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel now looks certain to be played at an empty Hampden. The delayed Scottish Cup semi-finals will be the same.
And clubs who sold punters virtual season tickets on the optimistic premise of a return to their seats by October now face awkward questions.
On Thursday, Celtic seasonticket holders received a letter asking for updated contact details in the event of future ticket ballots. But just as the letters dropped on door mats, Scotland’s First Minister was vocalising the worst fears of clubs across the land by pushing back plans to let fans back in.
And the financial implications of no gate income for months on end are almost as bleak as the prospect of the season being cut short and hard-up supporters joining Sky Sports in asking for their money back.
This tribute act to Scottish football might find a way to struggle on through the positive player tests and fixture postponements. The SPFL might delay another bitter war between clubs over titles, promotions and relegations as long as possible.
But there will be no mass gatherings while Covid cases continue to rise. And, even if that changes, today’s test events at Dingwall and Aberdeen represent a pale imitation of the game people pay good money to watch.
Jock Stein famously observed that football without fans is nothing. And, on days like this, games fans can feel equally pointless.
Football is about emotion, interaction, anger, passion, celebration, anguish, frustration and the joyous hugging of strangers after goals. But in the midst of a world pandemic, none of that is allowed. Nothing is.
People ask if the season can continue. They ask when fans will return to grounds?
But when the rules of engagement are face masks, no standing, no shouting, no chanting and no singing, it might be time to ask a different question. Is there much point anyway?