Over the last few days, you may have seen that the Bundesliga made its return, becoming the first major football league to try to bring their current season to a conclusion. In France however, all league positions were decided as final, with trophies, promotions and relegations all handed out. Over in the Netherlands, the season was simply cancelled, almost as if it never took place.
Here in the UK however, a decision is yet to be made about the future of the current season in the English Premier League. The hope is that ‘Project Restart’ will be able to move forward in the next few weeks and the season will continue sometime in June.
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With testing currently commencing each week within Premier League and EFL clubs, it has shown that players are still testing positive for COVID-19. Just last week a third unnamed Brighton player tested positive for the virus, with individual sessions at the clubs training ground currently taking place. The club however have confirmed that the individual training will continue despite the risks.
Even with social distancing rules still applying, this can’t be a safe environment for players to be working in.
Despite this, testing results have been low across the board, and should the restart commence, players will be expected to take training to the next step and move into non-contact group situations. To fans of the game such as myself, at first thought I saw this as progression. Pure excitement took over in the thought that a return may finally be on the way. However, is this the same feelings for the players who would potentially be putting not only themselves, but their family’s at risk of infection? Not for some.
Only this morning on Good Morning Britain, Watford Captain Troy Deeney voiced his discomfort around ‘Project Restart’. He insisted that players, particularly of BAME ethnicity, are still waiting to have many ‘simple’ questions answered before they return to full training:
#Watford captain Troy Deeney has stated that he worries about his and others health, with the Premier Leagues ‘Project Restart’ set to get underway. @OliverJWade has more on the story here: https://t.co/H0oz2N0edY pic.twitter.com/G0EU2lzREc
— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) May 18, 2020
Football is their job, and no person should go to work feeling insecure or unsafe, so why the need for a restart? Why not just reduce the risks of player and staff safety and finish the season as it is?
Well money talks, it always has done. And from my point of view, it looks as though it could be yet again.
If the season fails to be completed, clubs risk losing at least £300 million in broadcast payments. These penalties will be due because clubs will not be able to fulfil obligations set out by their contacts with TV companies such as Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon.
It would be a financial nightmare if they were to lose out on this money, so getting the football back your TV screens might just be doing a bit of the pushing.
I want football to return. We all do. However, there are some things bigger than football, and safety is one of them. Unless it’s 100% safe to do so, no rash decisions should be made during a pandemic that can not only risk health, but be a potential life threatening issue to many involved.
