PART-TIMEPITFALLSAHEAD

Testing protocols have become de rigueur in professional sport as clubs and athletes reorganise their working practices to ensure that not only are they able to continue competing but that they can do so as safely as possible.

But the positive test of a senior player at Highland RFC on Tuesday highlights just how precarious part-time sport is going to be.

While Highland coach Davie Carson and his players’ thoughts will be with their team-mate, there must deep down have been a sigh of relief that not only had the player contracted the virus outwith the club but also had not been in contact with any players or staff at Canal Park.

It brings into focus the pitfalls that lie ahead, not just for rugby clubs, but any team.

Cove Rangers, the League Two champions, are using the £50,000 donated by James Anderson to each SPFL club to regularly test their players but it is a cost that many teams simply cannot afford to incur on a regular basis. If there is a requirement for players and staff at teams across the country that operate on a part-time basis to be tested regularly then there will be genuine concerns of how it is going to be sustained financially.

Even if there is not a requirement for players to be tested regularly there is still the very real concern about what is going to happen when a player not only tests positive for Covid-19 in the future but has been in contact with his or her teammates and consequently forces the entire squad into self-isolation for 14 days.

The eight Aberdeen players who visited a city centre bar did so not out of malice but to unwind after a game.

Dons boss Derek McInnes is spot-on when he says a lot of club personnel breathed a huge sigh of relief that it was the Aberdeen players who were caught and not anyone from their clubs.

But let’s not delude ourselves here – part-time sport does not have the ability to operate within a bubble like Premiership clubs or the two professional rugby clubs in Scotland can. The risks of infection will be even higher.

Teams are made of players from all walks of life, from teachers, joiners and plumbers to farmers, electricians, accountants and van drivers. With the best will in the world, and despite the best of intentions, most are at risk in one form or another from their day job, let alone their training or playing commitments or, as was the case with the Dons players, their social lives.

You just need to look at the recent lockdown in Aberdeen and the recently imposed one in Glasgow to see how tough it is.

We are all taking more precautions, whether it be regular hand washing, sanitising, wearing face masks or social distancing.

But no matter how guarded or careful we aspire to be, we know we all remain susceptible to catching this horrible virus until a vaccine can be found.

“Part-timesportdoes nothavetheabilityto operatewithinabubble”

TESTING TIME: A senior player at Highland RFC tested positive for Covid-19, but contracted the virus outwith the club and had not been in contact with any players or members of staff at Canal Park