We’re exhausted after that Premier League marathon
Never mind the players, journalists have put in a hell of shift covering so many games in so few days,
There are no two ways about it, it has been an exhausting Premier League season. Fatigue, stress and agitation were all always highly likely with so many games in such a short space of time. And that’s just us journalists.
The longest league season in football history is finally, mercifully over, with the 10 simultaneous matches on
Sunday marking the finishing line of what turned into a 11-month marathon. With 92 games in just 39 days, the resumed 2019/20 campaign was more of a sprint and has certainly been a challenge to cover. Planning the coverage has been as difficult as the coverage itself with reporters all over the country at stadiums or in their living rooms filing on the whistle and overnight almost every night of the week. The games themselves have been very different too. Safety protocols dictated that as well as having no supporters present in the stadiums there was only one journalist per publication permitted too.
For run-of-the-mill matches that is very much standard fare, for Manchester City vs Liverpool or Tottenham vs Arsenal less so. Where there would sometimes be three or four on site, now there was only one which puts a great deal of pressure on that one writer but also on the Sports desk to make up for it.
Live coverage of historic moments is always a thrill and Liverpool’s first league title in 30 years was certainly one of those. There will be more to come, too, with the Champions League and Europa League competitions beginning again soon. It’s important not to forget just how lucky we are to write about this simultaneously meaningless and meaningful pastime for a living – and we really are – especially in a time of such uncertainty in all industries, not just our own.
I have always felt very privileged to do what we do, and look forward to doing so again when it all kicks off again for 2020/21 in just 46 days’ time. Maybe after a lie down first.