Football is coming home. After a seven-week hiatus, the Bundesliga is the first major European League to return to action next week as the ban on the ball is lifted. But with so many countries still worried about the consequences of COVID-19, what measures have been put in place to maintain a healthy distance from the Coronavirus and stop the spread of anything other than football fever?
Level 1 – Sensible and safe measures
Let’s be honest, some of the measures that have been put forward to stop the Coronavirus are ones that should have been mandatory before the outbreak even begun.
Washing hands is something that regular daily life should demand without question, but since the outbreak began, sporting stars have taking turns encouraging everyone to sing the National Anthem (or football chant of your choice) to last no less than 20 seconds while you scrub up.
Coughing into your elbow or a tissue you immediately dispose of is another no-brainer that until now somehow didn’t happen much in life before COVID-19, but is sure to be carried into the next decade as de rigeur. On the football pitch, we’d gamble that the elbow method will be slightly more practical than carrying round a box of Kleenex.
No fans will be present at any matches for some time, of course, with football likely to take place behind closed doors for the next 12 months or so as things stand, the projected time it might take to develop and distribute a vaccine.
Level 2 – Creative control
With the basics covered, it’s time to step up preparations. One of the most popular methods of stopping the spread of Coronavirus in the outside world has been people wearing masks, less in order to stop catching the infectious virus, but to stop themselves spreading, with droplets the vital word. Clubs are, at times, asking players to train in masks, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez both pictured wearing face-masks during training this week for Barcelona.
Newcastle were laughed at when they were one of the first clubs to ban players from shaking hands upon seeing each other arrive at training, but the practice is wholly discouraged now and won’t be a part of the pre-EPL game ritual either. One player who hasn’t been adhering to the rules outlined is Heartha Berlin’s Salomon Kalou, who broadcast his arrival at his team’s training ground on Facebook Live, featuring himself shaking hands with his pals.
The German Football League have since put out the following statement:
“The pictures of Salomon Kalou from the dressing room of Hertha BSC are absolutely unacceptable. They cannot be tolerated when other players and clubs have stuck to the guidelines because they have grasped the seriousness of the situation.”
Hertha have now suspended the errant Kalou from training and match operations with immediate effect and the striker has since apologised.
Shaking hands with teammates, publicizing pay cut complaints, and breaking #coronavirus hygiene rules. Salomon #Kalou has been suspended by Hertha Berlin.
The Facebook Live everyone is talking about:#HaHoHe pic.twitter.com/Ze6rr5ZJQ4
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) May 4, 2020
Level 3 – Imagination Over Infection
Many of the measures that will be in place when football returns are yet to be put in place. Spitting has long been a bugbear of many football fans. Television viewers in particular hate to see footballers spitting on the pitch and in the current COVID-19 climate, it’s going to be frowned on more and more.
Sharing water bottles that are regularly thrown onto the piutch from the sidelines? Not a chance. Gesticulating and shouting at the referee? Not going to happen. Even team celebrations are under threat, with the possibility that we see football regress to an age where a simple handshake – hang on, can’t do that – and a pat on the back — oh, forget it — nothing is going to be allowed. At least players who do score will be allowed to run to the fans and slide on their knee…oh, great.
As former Tottenham, Everton, Leicester and England striker Gary Lineker tweeted, what about the other on-field activities that could spread the virus?
Close marking? Walls at free kicks? Aerial duels? https://t.co/nb9ixLqGcV
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 6, 2020
With football returning one way or the other, there are many measures which will be put in place to keep fans, players and everyone else involved in the entertaining sporting circus that is the elite game.
Will the ends justify the means? That could take months to find out, after all, there won’t be any fans in the stadia to ask. We could see fixtures where players are carded for giving the referee backchat from 1.5 metres rather than 2m, flouting social distancing rules. But then what has the game become? In a post-COVID sporting world, the answer is anyone’s guess.
