Players’ positive tests show we’re doing right thing
Another weekend where Scottish football suffers more cases of coronavirus and the worry about keeping football on the road will only increase.
But here’s a thought – all of the positive tests this week should surely serve as a signal that our game is actually getting it right.
I’d prefer to say ‘well done’ to the testers and to everyone who’s following the protocols to the letter as it’s proof positive that we are going in the correct direction.
Patience and diligence are now the name of the game as we try to navigate through these difficult times.
We had our keeper Robby McCrorie testing positive after he returned from a Scotland Under-21 trip to Greece and again it highlighted the success of the protocols we have in place.
Robby would have been tested in the car park before he entered the stadium.
He has been at the club and followed all of the protocols.
The positive test result would then have come back and he would have headed home and into isolation, so it’s a prime example of the Covid testing working.
We have the strictest rules to follow, we have separate changing rooms and we all adhere to social distancing the best we can.
The risk of passing or contracting the virus is kept to the absolute minimum, we are all doing the best we can.
This isn’t the first issue we have had as a club because a couple of our players have previously tested positive and we have applied all of the isolation rules as well as the track and trace.
That’s just the way it has to be at the moment but we know it’s not forever as there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
You hear about the progress science is making with vaccines and that’s great to know, not just for football but for society as a whole.
What we tend to forget about the issue over coronavirus and football is that the bottom line is that we are speaking about the health of individuals.
So much of the conversation is about the inconvenience for clubs having players testing positive impacting on their squad.
But, for me, it’s first and foremost about a duty of care and health.
So forget football for a minute, we had two players who contracted Covid-19 and our primary concern was hoping they would recover from it.
It’s not a given that you spend a couple of weeks in isolation and then it’s straight back to normal.
There are long-haul victims and the virus can impact on people in a variety of ways, which is also a huge concern.
Some people look upon it as an inconvenience but I’ve always known the magnitude of what is at stake when we are trying to play through this pandemic.
People don’t see the work which is going on in all the clubs. It’s about trying to do the best we can to safeguard the health of staff.
That is the biggest thing for me, making sure players and staff recover from Covid-19 if they are unlucky enough to contract it. We also know that can come down to a lottery, it’s impossible to eliminate the risk completely.
But it’s not about concern over players missing games, it’s the concern that they will recover from it.
Football will get through this, society will get through it and we will all be in a better place if we all follow the rules.
Every week is a challenge but remember, positive coronavirus cases in football should always be a signal that our game is getting it right.