Premier League and Cheltenham on high alert
Premier League clubs fear being ordered to play behind closed doors by the end of this month and two teams told The Daily Telegraph last night that the season could still have to be stopped because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Concerns that playing Premier League games without spectators would just transfer the problem to pubs showing live matches are behind proposals such as cutting off the feed to such establishments or even showing any match in a closed stadium on free-to-air television.
But, in the worst-case scenario, the season could be suspended at a critical moment in the fixture list in terms of the title race and with eight top-flight clubs still involved in the FA Cup and four in the Champions League.
The Government will hold crisis talks with sports leaders and broadcasters today, but England’s European Championship warm-up game against Italy on March 27 at Wembley is under increasing doubt. Italy yesterday placed up to 16 million of its people in quarantine over the deadly outbreak, while football there was on the brink of being suspended altogether.
Serie A games went ahead despite the country’s sports minister, Vincenzo Spadafora, backing calls from the Italian players’ union for matches to be halted – something that led to a 75-minute delay to the kick-off of Parma’s game with Spal inside an empty stadium while officials considered his appeal.
The players’ union demanded “the suspension of the leagues” at an Italian Football Federation board meeting tomorrow [on Tuesday].
The call was endorsed by Mario Balotelli, with the Brescia striker and former Manchester City star posting on Instagram: “Money isn’t worth our health, we have to wake up. Don’t write rubbish to me like: ‘But you are protected! What difference does it make if you play or not? Nothing happens to you behind closed doors! Don’t take away the only fun that people have at the weekend in the red zones!’ I certainly don’t want my mother, who I see and eat with almost every day, to catch anything from me. Guys, you can’t joke around with health.”
England’s other warm-up match against Denmark four days later could also be called off given it, too, is a friendly and there would be nothing to gain from playing it at Wembley behind closed doors.
One Football Association source told The Telegraph cancelling the two games would get more expensive the later such a call was made.
Today’s Whitehall crisis talks will map out the impact of calling off sporting events in the UK or playing them behind closed doors and measures that could be put in place to mitigate that.
The virus continued to wreak havoc with sporting events worldwide yesterday, with spectators banned from attending the second race of the Formula One season, the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20-22. The Chinese Grand Prix, scheduled for Shanghai next month, was postponed indefinitely last month. Health authorities confirmed yesterday a resident from Cheltenham has contracted the virus. Cheltenham Festival begins tomorrow as planned, a racecourse spokesman said.
Uefa joined the Premier League and English Football League in banning pre-match handshakes at all its matches until further notice, including this week’s Champions League and Europa League ties.
Championship leaders Leeds United announced their women’s team and some of their academy sides would be temporarily moved out of their Thorp Arch training base “to protect Marcelo Bielsa’s squad from any risk of coming into contact with anyone who has contracted the virus”.
Tennis players were told not to hand out used towels or sweatbands, nor accept pens, tennis balls or other items from fans for autograph signings.
Meanwhile, the Cofidis and Groupama-fdj cycling teams announced they were heading home after being released from 10 days of quarantine in the wake of the abandoned UAE Tour.