Matt Maher: Sport is facing its biggest pandemic headache yet
Just like the rest of society, sport thought it had negotiated the worst of the pandemic.
Instead, it now faces its biggest headache yet. At the time of writing, Leicester v Tottenham had just become the fourth Premier League fixture to be postponed in the space of five days, with four EFL matches being called off in the space of an hour. It is reasonable to assume more may suffer the same fate before the weekend is through.
Currently it is quicker to list the top flight clubs who haven’t had players test positive for Covid-19 in the past few days than those who have.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank yesterday called for all of this weekend’s fixtures to be postponed in order to allow time to get the situation under control. That would appear a reasonable suggestion but for the fact there are no guarantees things would be any better a week from now.
In terms of severity, this feels similar to the very start of the pandemic, when the sheer volume of cases left football with no option but to pause.
Nearly two years on we at least now have the benefit of a vaccine but the failure of clubs to convince players to get jabbed is now coming back to haunt them.
Wolves are an honourable exception. Every member of the first-team squad is double-jabbed and will have received a booster by the end of the month.
But that is not replicated across the league and though there will now be a renewed push for those players already vaccinated to receive a booster, it is probably coming too late to change the current outlook. In October, it emerged 68 per cent of Premier League players were double-vaccinated. Even with a best-case scenario the other 32 per cent received a second jab in November, they would not be eligible for a booster – considered essential in limiting the spread of the Omicron variant – until February. Clearly, this is not going to be an issue which can be rectified over the course of a few days.
There were times last winter, most notably when Villa suffered a significant outbreak at Bodymoor Heath, when a pause to the Premier League season looked a distinct possibility. Ultimately, the league was just about able to avoid it but they have never before attempted to play on when case rates have been this high. While there is the chance to add dates into the calendar later in the season (that winter World Cup may yet prove a blessing in some respects), the wriggle room isn’t huge. And again, if the season were to pause now, there would be concerns over just how quickly it could get started again.
The counter argument to that is the current suck-it-and-see approach, with Covid-related postponements determined on a case-by-case basis, damages the integrity of the competition.
Dean Smith, Graham Potter and Brendan Rodgers have all, in recent days, expressed bemusement at the process of matches being cancelled and called for greater clarity.
As things stand, there is no threshold for the number of positive tests required to force a postponement. Instead it depends which members of the squad have contracted the disease. If a club has eight positive tests but they are spread between players and staff the match is likely to go ahead. But if they are unable to field a goalkeeper, for example, it will be postponed. The fact clubs are not obliged to make public which players have tested positive adds a further layer of confusion and adds weight to the argument the system is unfair and open to bias. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was right to call for greater transparency.
A further issue with attempting to muddle through is the disruption it causes supporters. In some regards the decision to postpone Watford’s match at Burnley on Wednesday night less than three hours before kick-off could not be helped, after visiting players reported symptoms on the morning and then had to wait for test results. But it was impossible not to have sympathy with those fans who had made the 200-mile journey from Hertfordshire to Lancashire, only to find there was no game to watch.
Supporters who went 14 months without being allowed into stadiums must now be wondering whether they will be shut out again. Such a possibility cannot be discounted. Doubtless there will be some fans who, after listening to Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, choose not attend matches this weekend.
The Premier League will likely take its lead from government and the message there is for everything to remain open. Increasingly, however, it feels they are swimming against the tide.
