Matt Maher: Flat and functional – but there is no choice

The rivalry between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke stands among the fiercest in world football, brimming with tradition and each meeting packed full of colour, noise and passion.

At least that was the case before Saturday, when the harsh realities of football’s new normal gave the 156th edition of the Revierderby the look and feel of a glorified training exercise.

From the empty, echoing stands at Dortmund’s 81,000-capacity Signal Iduna Park, to the substitutes in face masks and goals being met by shouts of joy from a handful of club staff, the Bundesliga’s return was certainly not football as we know it.

Yet it was, however, football as we are going to have to accept it for the foreseeable future.

Footballs are disinfected during the Bundesliga soccer match between Duesseldorf and Paderborn in the Merkur Spiel-Arena, Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2020. The German Bundesliga becomes the world's first major soccer league to resume after a two-month suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic.

All eyes were fixed on Germany as their league became the first to emerge from the coronavirus shutdown. In the post-match debate as to whether the new-look product was worth the effort, opinions were roughly split down the middle.

For all the social media posters who could be found celebrating football’s return, there were at least as many bemoaning the lack of atmosphere at matches which felt rather functional and flat.

While the latter viewpoint may gain increasing support once the initial novelty of having the sport back wears off, the reality is this is a debate where there is no right or wrong answer because in real terms the debate doesn’t actually exist.

The stark choice which currently faces football’s governing bodies is to play without fans or not play at all. No-one can say for sure when supporters might be allowed back through the turnstiles, yet even the most optimistic predictions suggest some time late this calendar year, the more conservative some point in 2021.

Frankfurt's team members, keeping a distance, sit in the stands during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, March 16, 2020. The German Bundesliga becomes the world's first major soccer league to resume after a two-month suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Desirable as it might be to pack the sport away ready for a return only when it is safe for everyone to attend, in reality that is simply not practical, not if we want to preserve the structure of the game as we know it.

In England, clubs in the lower half of the EFL are counting on the Premier League being able to get its show back on the road next month, in the hope the top flight will then be in a position to help them financially when the financial strain of shutdown really begins to bite a couple of months from now.

Behind closed doors matches are in many respects detestable. Yet they are preferable to the inevitable job losses which would occur, even at Premier League clubs, if football shut up shop for an extended period.

This is not football as we want it. For now, it is football as it must be.