With the coronavirus pandemic causing all English football games to be postponed until April 30 at the very earliest, how do clubs deal with the no football aspect behind the scenes?
Forest Green Rovers media assistant Noah Dougherty has insisted the general spirit at the Nailsworth-based club is “great” despite there being no footballing action for another month at least.
Rovers are one of the 128 teams taking part in the FIFA QuaranTeam tournament that was set up by the Leyton Orient media manager, Luke Lambourne.
This fun tournament is one of various ideas that the creative minds of media teams around the country have set up in order to keep the fans entertained via social media, with many of them sat at home in self-isolation.
🤩 Introducing your G̶l̶a̶s̶t̶o̶n̶b̶u̶r̶y̶ ̶2̶0̶2̶0̶ Ultimate QuaranTeam line-up so far.
— Leyton Orient (@leytonorientfc) March 16, 2020
If your club is missing and tried getting involved let us know!
Only ten places remain!#UltimateQuaranTeam #LOFC pic.twitter.com/5u4d4yKYx3
Rovers have had defenders Chris Stokes and Udoka Godwin-Malife represent them so far in the Esports tournament.
Dougherty has spoken to Park Life Sport in depth about what the media team at the club need to do in order to keep the fans entertained during this difficult time.
“It can be a little difficult to come up with content, but we’re working on getting fans to be creative as well as providing activities to keep young fans entertained while their parents need time to work from home,” Dougherty said.
Rovers have also set up a scheme to try and get young supporters involved with sports journalism, and more specifically, writing match reports from previous games this season.
📧📧📧
— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) March 23, 2020
Send us your reports to press@fgr.co.uk, and we'll share our favourites.
You may even join us in the media team 😉#WeAreFGR pic.twitter.com/p7QcqV8sSW
Dougherty added: “The most important thing from our point of view is to keep spirits up during what can be a tricky time for many people.”
With no football on, it means that the majority of the staff at Forest Green will have to work from home in whatever capacity they can.
The Forest Green media assistant praised the spirit of the group within the club, labelling it as “great” despite the very difficult period we’re currently facing.
“The general spirit is great,” Dougherty said.
“We’re all working together to make sure things are in the best place for fans both during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Dougherty on the main ambition
“It’s important we all work together and be as creative as possible in the way we operate and the content we put out.”
