The day the turf stood still: looking back at sport's sudden shutdown
On Friday 13 March 2020 as the Covid-19 crisis gripped, the sporting calendar collapsed. This is the story of that day, and what happened next, in the words of leading players and officials.
Formula One teamsgathered in Melbourne for the opening grand prix of the season. On Thursday 12 March, a member of the McLaren team tested positive for Covid-19.
Lando Norris, McLaren driver: I remember heading to Australia, and at that point everything was pretty normal for us, although we were starting to see things about Covid on the news, such as Tom Hanks testing positive [in Australia]. On the Thursday we knew a member of the team had suspected symptoms and was being tested. I don’t know why, but even though we were going about our activities as normal, I did have a hunch that the race would be cancelled with things around the world getting worse, and that we wouldn’t be coming back to the track the next day. Going back to the hotel that night, I got a call from Andrea [Stella, the racing director], who gave me the news that McLaren were pulling out of the weekend because our team member had tested positive. It was the start of everything. Things went very quickly from a normal Thursday at the track to flying back home the next day.
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal: On the way to Australia we knew Covid-19 was becoming a bigger global concern but we felt having left Europe we would at least get the season under way. Then very quickly things changed. None of us had experienced anything like that when the whole world came to a halt, we just wanted to get the team home safely and then things just got worse and worse as we went into the lockdown.
On Thursday 12 March Arsenal’s head coach, Mikel Arteta, was diagnosed with coronavirus – the prelude to, and trigger for, much of the next day’s drama.
Mark Gonnella, director of communications, Arsenal: We knew the implications would be far-reaching. I was aware he [Arteta] had gone home poorly and that we were awaiting the outcome of the test result. Our match at Manchester City the previous day had already been postponed and it felt as if we were at the epicentre of everything. It was late in the evening when Mikel’s diagnosis came through but we decided to make the announcement straight away, confirming too that our next game, at Brighton, would be off.
Mark Catlin, Portsmouth chief executive: We had played Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round the week before and I got a call out of courtesy from their CEO [Vinai Venkatesham] to say that it was going to break that Mikel Arteta had tested positive and to advise that we might want to get our players tested. And from that first round of testing we had five players return positive tests pretty soon after. It was just like a car going down a hill that you just couldn’t apply the brakes. It kicked up a momentum of its own, the picture was changing by the hour, and it was the beginning of the end in society as we knew it at the time. There was a Nottingham Forest game [against Millwall] that the Greek owner [Evangelos Marinakis] had attended in the Championship and his other club, Olympiakos, had had a few cases and then it suddenly became very real. We were due to play Accrington on the Saturday and their owner, Andy Holt, had expressed concern at how quickly the virus was spreading. We spoke to the EFL [English Football League] and said we were really nervous about the game taking place while we were waiting for results of our players being tested and over those few days it spiralled to the point where by that Saturday the whole of the EFL was suspended. It was just one of those surreal things you think is never going to happen.
Rick Parry, EFL chairman: The first thing that Friday [13 March] was an early morning call with the Premier League and FA where we agreed that we would take a common line. Then we called a board meeting, at extremely short notice, to focus on the single issue: do we play this weekend or not? The Premier League obviously had their concerns about Arteta. We had concerns about Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth in particular, and I think there was another club where positives were starting to appear. It was definitely a live issue. So although at that point the government guidance was that it was still safe, we decided it wasn’t. The decision to postpone was pretty quickly and unanimously reached.
Gareth Davies, then chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union: We were at Twickenham the previous Saturday [for England v Wales]. The prime minister was there and everything was fine. At that stage people didn’t know the effect Covid-19 was going to have on us all. The first time it really registered was on the Monday. My daughter is a paediatric consultant and she said to me: “Dad, are you comfortable with the Scotland game going ahead on Saturday?” But the official advice we were receiving was that outdoor events were permitted, that even if there were mass gatherings outside you wouldn’t get infected. As a rugby board, who were we to go against that? By the Thursday, even so, I was getting twitchy. But other sporting events were still proceeding so I informed the government we were going ahead with the game. Then, on the Friday morning, I got up early to discover the Premier League had changed their minds. Apart from Cheltenham we were suddenly the last man standing. So I called another board meeting for midday, rang the first minister, Mark Drakeford, and said my recommendation would be that we pulled the game. He understood our position totally and was very understanding. Thank God we did call it off. Cheltenham have been crucified for carrying on, haven’t they?
The Masters golf was postponed minutes before Wales v Scotland was.
Ian Poulter, golfer: I had gotten off to a decent start at the Players Championship [in Florida]. I shot 70 on the Thursday and was looking forward to a good weekend. Whispers started on that Thursday evening about cancellation then we got given the news later that night. You were confused, didn’t know how serious it was and what it meant for any of us. How much time was this really going to take out? The rest of that weekend is pretty blurred.
Joe Denly, England and Kent batsman: England were playing a four-day warm-up match in Sri Lanka and I remember fielding on the boundary, thinking to myself: “What am I doing here? I need to get home.” We didn’t really understand the virus at the time. As soon as you hear that people have died – and each passing hour the severity of it seemed to increase – all you can think about is getting back to your loved ones in case the worst happened. Being part of a Test tour for your country, you are living your dream. And so the fact I didn’t want to be there told me something wasn’t right. Joe Root went off the field for talks with senior officials and, when he returned to say a decision had been made, it was a relief. The way the team doctor, Gurjit Bhogal, and the entire England support staff dealt with it during the days leading up to the call was first-class.
Hugh Brasher, London Marathon event director: 29 February was when it really hit me that the marathon was in trouble. I was sitting in the Tower hotel on the eve of the London Big Half when suddenly the Paris half marathon was called off at 12 hours’ notice. I remember thinking: “Woah, this is major.” It snowballed quickly after that. Within days it was clear that the London Marathon was increasingly unlikely to be held on its traditional April date because of Covid-19, and so behind the scenes we rushed to get approval from the mayor, Transport for London and the boroughs to move the race to October. Thankfully they were all incred