Football & Coronavirus [READ MOD NOTE IN FIRST POST - updated 06-05-20]

Mushy

~Rebel~ wrote: »

There's a whole bunch of great reasons (discussed here yesterday or the day before) why neutral grounds are a great idea - what's weird isn't so much that the Premier League teams are doing it, it's that the EFL teams are not. I can't quite make sense of that to be honest.

<edit> Having trouble finding any sources saying EFL games will take place in their own stadiums though... can anyone point me in that direction?

Hasnt been much said on what efl clubs would do. I'm thinking they're closer to calling it finished and just running playoffs so may not be an issue. Possibility of 1 leg neutral venue for the semi final stages.

wadacrack

Zara King is an extremely head wrecking reporter

Fitz*

~Rebel~ wrote: »

There's a whole bunch of great reasons (discussed here yesterday or the day before) why neutral grounds are a great idea - what's weird isn't so much that the Premier League teams are doing it, it's that the EFL teams are not. I can't quite make sense of that to be honest.

<edit> Having trouble finding any sources saying EFL games will take place in their own stadiums though... can anyone point me in that direction?

There's this, but not much I can find in terms of quotes saying exactly that the plan is to use the grounds. I guess it was inferred.

https://twitter.com/sistoney67/status/1257594615089311749?s=19

gstack166

https://twitter.com/theathleticuk/status/1257740595386294273?s=21

Mitch Connor

gstack166 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/theathleticuk/status/1257740595386294273?s=21

Doctors have the most power here, if they don't approve, insurance etc is impossible. Football won't come back without their consent.

Cantona's Collars

Another mad idea.

https://twitter.com/City_Xtra/status/1257786783514927104

Richard Hillman

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Doctors have the most power here, if they don't approve, insurance etc is impossible. Football won't come back without their consent.

As usual with Sports, news or politics, they will find an "expert" who will give them the answer they want.

gstack166

https://twitter.com/mailsport/status/1257924324272504833?s=21

El Gato De Negocios

gstack166 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/mailsport/status/1257924324272504833?s=21

Its a natural enough fear tbh. People can bang on about the relative low risk to younger, fitter people suffering serious effects from the virus but thats very easy to say when its not yourself thats in the firing line. These individuals bread and butter is their lung capacity, even if one player gets a bad dose it could potentially be career ending as the long term effects of C19 and how the respiratory system recovers is completely unknown. If it was a disease effecting horses you would have the likes of PETA petitioning to not get horse racing back, it seems human beings have no such luxury.

Tom Mann Centuria

Eibar's players and coaching staff have expressed concern about football restarting in Spain, La Liga have said playing football is safer than going to the supermarket. Very easy for them to say that while staying nice and safe video conferencing. It probably is less safe going to the supermarket, but also a necessity, football on the other hand, depends who you talk to.

Mitch Connor

Richard Hillman wrote: »

As usual with Sports, news or politics, they will find an "expert" who will give them the answer they want.

Well the doctors are outlining in their concerns that there is no one expert opinion so it's not the case of the pl simply finding someone to peddle a narrative they want.

They have to legit convince the doctors, cause without them they've zero chance convincing the players.

wadacrack

https://twitter.com/honigstein/status/1257934985476087814

gstack166

wadacrack wrote: »

https://twitter.com/honigstein/status/1257934985476087814

Presumably they’ll have to remain in isolation until the season is complete? Otherwise they’ll have to do a 2 week quarantine before each game, interesting to see will the players agree to this. Have a feeling they won’t.

El Gato De Negocios

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Eibar's players and coaching staff have expressed concern about football restarting in Spain, La Liga have said playing football is safer than going to the supermarket. Very easy for them to say that while staying nice and safe video conferencing. It probably is less safe going to the supermarket, but also a necessity, football on the other hand, depends who you talk to.

I'd be of the opposite opinion tbh and its actually a pretty stupid comment from La Liga. Going to the supermarket you can wear PPE and consciously keep your distance from people. On a field, running around a field for 90 minutes, exposed to various bodily secretions and breathing deeply for much of the 90 minutes as well as having other players coming into contact with you for much of the game. Being a keeper you are probably alright but out field players? The more I think about it the more idiotic a statement it seems.

ArmaniJeanss

The players have a right to be fearful, they also without doubt have a moral right to refuse to play, whether that is individually or as a collective.

The corollary I suppose is that they would have to accept reduced or no wages, that clubs may go kaput, that when they (the players) accept it's safe to resume that they may not have a club to play for. That wages may be dramatically reduced. Or that they have taken a year or two out of the relatively short window a professional footballer has to make money.

That would probably be ok for someone who has done quite well out of the game and is nearing the end of their career (e.g., Aguero who has been quite vocal). Possibly less OK for the 27 year old who has moved up from lower league to a mid-tier Championship club and is on the fringes of the first team.

wadacrack

gstack166 wrote: »

Presumably they’ll have to remain in isolation until the season is complete? Otherwise they’ll have to do a 2 week quarantine before each game, interesting to see will the players agree to this. Have a feeling they won’t.

Im not sure. Great to see the league coming back. Hopefully it goes well. Will give other countries a protocol to look at and hopefully implement for their own leagues. The situation is unlikely to change anytime soon, professional sport needs to try and get back . Hopefully they get the support from football fans

Fitz*

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Eibar's players and coaching staff have expressed concern about football restarting in Spain, La Liga have said playing football is safer than going to the supermarket. Very easy for them to say that while staying nice and safe video conferencing. It probably is less safe going to the supermarket, but also a necessity, football on the other hand, depends who you talk to.

I'm not sure on the Spanish stats as they don't seem to be available but based on the number of cases in tests already performed on people associated with football clubs in Germany versus general population would suggest that the football environment would be safer. The % of positive cases is lower in the football environment than in the general environment according to NY times. I can't find a more recent total number of tests performed : cases in Germany, but the player percentage was 0.58% of people tested positive. There will be another round of testing this weekend and the expectancy is that this number will be lower again.

Statutory Ape wrote: »

I'd be of the opposite opinion tbh and its actually a pretty stupid comment from La Liga. Going to the supermarket you can wear PPE and consciously keep your distance from people. On a field, running around a field for 90 minutes, exposed to various bodily secretions and breathing deeply for much of the 90 minutes as well as having other players coming into contact with you for much of the game. Being a keeper you are probably alright but out field players? The more I think about it the more idiotic a statement it seems.

The requirement for any player, coach, or official to be on the field playing the game would be that they have to have multiple negative tests. So they will not have the virus. If you are playing a game with players who do not have the virus, would you still be worried about contracting the virus from them?

Because of the mass testing that will be available to all players, resulting in immediate isolation, sport could become one of the safer environments in the near future.

The_Kew_Tour

I think Germany are making a decision in next few hours according to reports. Most likely back end of May

FitzShane

FitzShane wrote: »

I'm not sure on the Spanish stats as they don't seem to be available but based on the number of cases in tests already performed on people associated with football clubs in Germany versus general population would suggest that the football environment would be safer. The % of positive cases is lower in the football environment than in the general environment according to NY times. I can't find a more recent total number of tests performed : cases in Germany, but the player percentage was 0.58% of people tested positive. There will be another round of testing this weekend and the expectancy is that this number will be lower again.




The requirement for any player, coach, or official to be on the field playing the game would be that they have to have multiple negative tests. So they will not have the virus. If you are playing a game with players who do not have the virus, would you still be worried about contracting the virus from them?

Because of the mass testing that will be available to all players, resulting in immediate isolation, sport could become one of the safer environments in the near future.

Exactly.

If you're a player and you know the people you will have close contact with all are covid negative, that's a game changer. It'll probably mean players being tested on morning of games when the squad has all met up.

gstack166

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I think Germany are making a decision in next few hours according to reports. Most likely back end of May

It’s been made. Check previous posts.

Good to see Germany waiting a few extra weeks. No need to rush into it. Wait until safe to start again.

citytillidie

Baseball in South Korea started back yesterday this is the crowd

gstack166

wadacrack wrote: »

Im not sure. Great to see the league coming back. Hopefully it goes well. Will give other countries a protocol to look at and hopefully implement for their own leagues. The situation is unlikely to change anytime soon, professional sport needs to try and get back . Hopefully they get the support from football fans

https://twitter.com/tsbreakfast/status/1257929503466274816?s=21

Uwe Rosler doesn’t appear in favour of it, nor most of his players. Don’t think you can listen to the interview there but the gist of it was, He said his health isn’t too good personally (Side effects from the cancer therapy), but feels torn to be loyal to his club and his players to coach the team on match days should it happen. He will do his job but doesn’t feel comfortable. He sounded very depressed, that’s what caught my attention the most.

Richard Hillman

World Rugby reckon it will take 167 people for an elite rugby game to take place behind closed doors.



I don't know where some media folk are getting numbers of 300+ for a football match.

El Gato De Negocios

6 wrote: »

Good to see Germany waiting a few extra weeks. No need to rush into it. Wait until safe to start again.

Not good for the PL considering how on top of the virus the germans have been in comparison to the UK. If the germans are already pushing it back by another couple of weeks it doesn't bode well for the English leagues resuming.

Fr Tod Umptious

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I think Germany are making a decision in next few hours according to reports. Most likely back end of May

A few weeks ago it was "Most likely back 9th of May", then it was another date, now it's end of May.

There is zero guarantee when it will be back, it's all just an aspiration,and always will be until a game is actually played.

y0ssar1an22

FitzShane wrote: »

I'm not sure on the Spanish stats as they don't seem to be available but based on the number of cases in tests already performed on people associated with football clubs in Germany versus general population would suggest that the football environment would be safer. The % of positive cases is lower in the football environment than in the general environment according to NY times. I can't find a more recent total number of tests performed : cases in Germany, but the player percentage was 0.58% of people tested positive. There will be another round of testing this weekend and the expectancy is that this number will be lower again.




The requirement for any player, coach, or official to be on the field playing the game would be that they have to have multiple negative tests. So they will not have the virus. If you are playing a game with players who do not have the virus, would you still be worried about contracting the virus from them?

Because of the mass testing that will be available to all players, resulting in immediate isolation, sport could become one of the safer environments in the near future.

im not sure how much you can read into that data. all football players were tested vs gen. pop. if you were showing symptoms. so you're not comparing like with like, to advance the argument that football the environment is safer.

what is more likely, if everyone is tested, then the % infected in gen . pop. would fall.

Mitch Connor

Statutory Ape wrote: »

Not good for the PL considering how on top of the virus the germans have been in comparison to the UK. If the germans are already pushing it back by another couple of weeks it doesn't bode well for the English leagues resuming.

That ignores the governments differing attitudes to its population, science and resumtion of normal life.

UK will return to levels of normality at earlier stages in their cycle than other countries will.

gstack166

Mitch Connor wrote: »

That ignores the governments differing attitudes to its population, science and resumtion of normal life.

UK will return to levels of normality at earlier stages in their cycle than other countries will.

Although that is true the reason been given for the Premier League to start as soon as deemed possible is to ‘lift the spirits of the nation’ doesn’t mention it being because the UK is resuming to some levels of normality.

Hodors Appletart

should players be prioritised for tests ahead of non-footballers, NHS workers or other emergency services workers?

should their results be expedited ahead of the results of those people also?

Mitch Connor

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

should players be prioritised for tests ahead of non-footballers, NHS workers or other emergency services workers?

should their results be expedited ahead of the results of those people also?

The clubs will be sourcing and conducting the tests themselves.

Hodors Appletart

Mitch Connor wrote: »

The clubs will be sourcing and conducting the tests themselves.

and they shouldn't give them to the nhs to test actual symptomatic people?

cool, footballers are way more important

Hodors Appletart

and this is in a world where countries are outbidding each other for testing equipment, what if Man Utd outbid Burnley for a pallet of swabs?

or what if Man Utd outbid the NHS?

Cantona's Collars

Richard Hillman wrote: »

World Rugby reckon it will take 167 people for an elite rugby game to take place behind closed doors.



I don't know where some media folk are getting numbers of 300+ for a football match.

The link is buried somewhere in this thread and it's a comprehensive breakdown of the numbers.
It could be anything up to 1000 for a top EPL game.

Fitz*

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

and they shouldn't give them to the nhs to test actual symptomatic people?

cool, footballers are way more important

Have you bought tests and donated them to health boards?

Mitch Connor

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

and they shouldn't give them to the nhs to test actual symptomatic people?

cool, footballers are way more important

Cool, let the government off doing its duty. Why isn't the government the one to insure symptomatic people are tested?

FFS, why isn't it the governments duty to ensure asymptomatic people are tested?

Nah, its obviously the responsibility of football.

PL tests will have no impact on the NHS ability to test or the Governments ability to provide for its people.

Mitch Connor

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

The link is buried somewhere in this thread and it's a comprehensive breakdown of the numbers.
It could be anything up to 1000 for a top EPL game.

Which seemed to be based on the number of people involved in televising/putting on a game previously, with little thought to reduction in numbers needed for a scaled back version.

Just because there were numbers in an article, done by a paper (so not a PL/Club researched document) doesn't mean the numbers were right.

Hodors Appletart

FitzShane wrote: »

Have you bought tests and donated them to health boards?

I certainly have not, me buying tests would mean they are not available for the HSE to purchase, therefore upping the cost.

Football clubs "sourcing" swabs for use on players is taking from a limited pool of equipment available at any one time.

But of course football and football players deserve it more.

I'm not saying the clubs should be giving swabs to the nhs, I'm saying it's abysmal for clubs to even be thinking of buying up this essential public health equipment just so a few games of football can be played.

"Sorry lad, we don't have enough tests to test you and your family, here watch a match instead those players were tested yesterday and had their results back and all"

It's just not right

Mitch Connor

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

and this is in a world where countries are outbidding each other for testing equipment, what if Man Utd outbid Burnley for a pallet of swabs?

or what if Man Utd outbid the NHS?

The PL would source it as a group.

Its like people are just searching for problems and things to have a whinge about.

Like there isn't plenty of stuff in the first place.

Hodors Appletart

[QUOTE=Mitch Connor;113358234

PL tests will have no impact on the NHS ability to test or the Governments ability to provide for its people.[/QUOTE]

are there an infinite number of testing swabs available?

suggesting clubs buy even one swab that a government can buy so they can test players ahead of actual sick people is atrocious behaviour

how can you think like this?

jayo26

6 wrote: »

Good to see Germany waiting a few extra weeks. No need to rush into it. Wait until safe to start again.

Not sure what's good to see??

The reason its been delayed is because players have tested positive already and broken rules and made a joke of it while people are dying....

Not much good to see on Germany as far as im concerned anyway.

Mitch Connor

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

I certainly have not, me buying tests would mean they are not available for the HSE to purchase, therefore upping the cost.

Football clubs "sourcing" swabs for use on players is taking from a limited pool of equipment available at any one time.

But of course football and football players deserve it more.

I'm not saying the clubs should be giving swabs to the nhs, I'm saying it's abysmal for clubs to even be thinking of buying up this essential public health equipment just so a few games of football can be played.

"Sorry lad, we don't have enough tests to test you and your family, here watch a match instead those players were tested yesterday and had their results back and all"

It's just not right

UK aren't reporting any issue in sourcing anything they need for testing, the Government say they are not having any issues. So why are you making up a scenario where the Government is short of tests (they say they are not) just to have a go at Football.

Hodors Appletart

Mitch Connor wrote: »

The PL would source it as a group.

even this is wrong

any and all testing equipment should be in public hospitals full stop

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Its like people are just searching for problems and things to have a whinge about.

nah it's psychopaths who think football and footballers are somehow more important than ordinary people, or that testing equipment grown in trees and is not in short supply already are the ones in the wrong here

Hodors Appletart

Mitch Connor wrote: »

UK aren't reporting any issue in sourcing anything they need for testing, the Government say they are not having any issues. So why are you making up a scenario where the Government is short of tests (they say they are not) just to have a go at Football.

you believe the tories?

good one

Fitz*

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

I certainly have not, me buying tests would mean they are not available for the HSE to purchase, therefore upping the cost.

Football clubs "sourcing" swabs for use on players is taking from a limited pool of equipment available at any one time.

But of course football and football players deserve it more.

I'm not saying the clubs should be giving swabs to the nhs, I'm saying it's abysmal for clubs to even be thinking of buying up this essential public health equipment just so a few games of football can be played.

"Sorry lad, we don't have enough tests to test you and your family, here watch a match instead those players were tested yesterday and had their results back and all"

It's just not right

If I wanted to buy 1000 testing kits for myself right now, I could. It's £72,000 that I don't have but it's possible. I could use those 1000 kits however I wanted. But I would not be 'taking them away' from anybody else as everybody else is able to buy them from the same location as me. Those 1000 kits would probably cover one full round of testing players & staff for the whole Premier League, roughly. Of course, if they wanted to, the NHS could also buy 1000 kits from the same location and use them how they wanted to. They will still cost the same price - £72 per kit.

This is not eBay where demand increases price. It's not highest bidder wins.

You can buy them yourself here too. You won't be 'taking them away' from me, the HSE, the NHS, any other health board or any other person if you buy them. Here's the link - https://www.alphabiolabs.co.uk/basket/

gstack166

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

even this is wrong

any and all testing equipment should be in public hospitals full stop



nah it's psychopaths who think football and footballers are somehow more important than ordinary people, or that testing equipment grown in trees and is not in short supply already are the ones in the wrong here

To be fair to footballers there was an article on the Athletic stating footballers felt they shouldn’t be held higher to normal people in terms of testing, they stated they’d rather the kits went to the NHS if they were in short supply.

Hodors Appletart

gstack166 wrote: »

To be fair to footballers there was an article on the Athletic stating footballers felt they shouldn’t be held higher to normal people in terms of testing, they stated they’d rather the kits went to the NHS if they were in short supply.

I wasn't saying anything about footballers, but people who think footballers are somehow special and different and should be tested and receive results in 24 hours so they can play a game of football in an empty stadium

if club medics can carry out tests they should be deployed to the front line to carry out testing on people who actually need to be tested

premier league footballers do not need to be tested they are millionaires who can afford a few months off work and should under their club rules have been social distancing for weeks now

citytillidie

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

are there an infinite number of testing swabs available?

suggesting clubs buy even one swab that a government can buy so they can test players ahead of actual sick people is atrocious behaviour

how can you think like this?

The NHS is testing lots along with other private companies and even universities so there who is to say they would be taking tests away from the NHS?

gstack166

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

I wasn't saying anything about footballers, but people who think footballers are somehow special and different and should be tested and receive results in 24 hours so they can play a game of football in an empty stadium

if club medics can carry out tests they should be deployed to the front line to carry out testing on people who actually need to be tested

premier league footballers do not need to be tested they are millionaires who can afford a few months off work and should under their club rules have been social distancing for weeks now

I agree with everything you said, just thought it was pop at footballers in the previous post. I misinterpreted it.

Hodors Appletart

it's amazing the people in this thread who are somehow believing Tory numbers now that it suits them to.

very surprising from one person in particular