Football To Be Behind Closed Doors From Monday

[dcrow]

6 hours ago, sonar said:

Here's the thing I don't get. We have politicians saying we need social distancing and are banning crowds but they are quite prepared to allow sports people to sweat,spit on the ground,go shoulder to shoulder with each other all in the names of sport.

Seems hypocritcal.....and self defeating....

And while being in groups while announcing those measures.

[bombagol]

15 hours ago, Generator said:

Hopefully the above links work. If it doesn’t, last night the ABC commentators were criticising some AFL players for “not setting a good example” after shaking hands at the end of a game and after scoring a goal. A game that involved players tackling each other over and over.

Leaving aside the absolute stupidity of the commentators (both in that moment and in general), the broader point is sound - if these distancing rules are to apply to all, professional sports where players come into close contact (including our sport, not just Aussie rules/AFL) should set an example and suspend all operations until further notice. Actually, it should cover all sport.

 

Insignificant competitions like the UEFA Champions League and the basketball in the USA have stopped playing, but the Aussie A-League, NRL and AFL are much too important to stop and care about players' health and stopping the thread of COVID-19. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by bombagol

[Prydzopolis]

12 hours ago, sonar said:

Here's the thing I don't get. We have politicians saying we need social distancing and are banning crowds but they are quite prepared to allow sports people to sweat,spit on the ground,go shoulder to shoulder with each other all in the names of sport.

Seems hypocritcal.....and self defeating....

This is a tough one, AFL & NRL both have a lot to lose when it comes to not playing. It seems they are prioritizing the game (& it’s profitability) over the health/safety of its players. They are already going to lose lots by having to play behind closed doors, it will really wreak havoc on their games.

[Prydzopolis]

Latest update from Europe:

UEFA has pushed back euros to 2021 to try to give as many countries the possibility to finish the season by June 30. I think it’s highly unlikely and as cases rise & the death toll keeps rising then I can’t see anyway in which football can be played. Their peak will happen a lot sooner (predicting June because it’s their summer) but I just can’t see how it’s going to happen on April 3. The other issue is that their is no guarantee that people are immune once already infected, this leaves a lot of question marks about when it’s safe to be out again.

NPL

Heard on the grapevine that FNSW looking at many options like no pro/rel this year, no finals (to finish games), play weekend/midweek games all the way through or just play teams once. This all depends on us returning to training on April 14, we are behind Europe in terms of spread but with the situation being a lot worse (numbers are doubling every 4 days, based on spread in other countries) I can’t see us being able to get back to training let alone games.

China:

They are looking to restart the CSL (mid or early April) as community transmission is near zero & most infections are now imported. Lots of teams are in Europe & need a two week quarantine before they can start playing matches, all heading back now too.

[sonar]

4 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

This is a tough one, AFL & NRL both have a lot to lose when it comes to not playing. It seems they are prioritizing the game (& it’s profitability) over the health/safety of its players. They are already going to lose lots by having to play behind closed doors, it will really wreak havoc on their games.

It's the same for most sports. If there is one silver lining ( and I use the term loosely as C-19 IS serious) for Football we are nearly done and we may get lucky and finish our season.

The AFL & NRL will be in all sorts of financial pain if their seasons have to end because of a player C-19 positive test which I expect will happen.

We live in very interesting times.

[Smoggy]

9 minutes ago, sonar said:

 

The AFL & NRL will be in all sorts of financial pain

 

Every cloud and all that.

[Unlimited]

What a time to be alive, eh?

[btron3000]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/the-real-reason-nrl-afl-and-a-league-are-playing-through-a-pandemic-20200320-p54c8p.html

"The AFL kicked off on Thursday night, the NRL plan to complete round 2 this weekend and the A-League continues because all three football codes have been paid in advance by Fox and their FTA telecasters...

The NRL’s next “big drop”, as it’s called, is scheduled for April 1. If the clubs don’t play, the broadcasters - with Fox experiencing extreme financial challenges - won’t pay.

TV contracts are paid quarterly over a calendar year, beginning in January, with the last advanced payment in October. 

So, if the AFL is paid $2.5 billion over six years and the NRL $1.8 billion over five years and they receive their money every three months, then both codes have already had $90m to $100m deposited in their bank accounts.

They need to be playing on April 1 when they will have received half their yearly payment, otherwise their cash reserves will be rapidly exhausted."

 

Absolutely and totally irresponsible. The government should shut them down.

[StringerBellend]

12 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

Latest update from Europe:

UEFA has pushed back euros to 2021 to try to give as many countries the possibility to finish the season by June 30. I think it’s highly unlikely and as cases rise & the death toll keeps rising then I can’t see anyway in which football can be played. Their peak will happen a lot sooner (predicting June because it’s their summer) but I just can’t see how it’s going to happen on April 3. The other issue is that their is no guarantee that people are immune once already infected, this leaves a lot of question marks about when it’s safe to be out again.

NPL

Heard on the grapevine that FNSW looking at many options like no pro/rel this year, no finals (to finish games), play weekend/midweek games all the way through or just play teams once. This all depends on us returning to training on April 14, we are behind Europe in terms of spread but with the situation being a lot worse (numbers are doubling every 4 days, based on spread in other countries) I can’t see us being able to get back to training let alone games.

China:

They are looking to restart the CSL (mid or early April) as community transmission is near zero & most infections are now imported. Lots of teams are in Europe & need a two week quarantine before they can start playing matches, all heading back now too.

If it is now ok to play in china, then I wouldn't put it past the the EPL will be look at playing their games there (think of the money they'd make)

[WHACKO]

Is it China saying China's OK. They denied it in the first place. Wouldn't trust them.

[btron3000]

18 hours ago, dcrow said:

Because money talks.

Dude. I agree that you often need to follow the money to find out why governments make decisions. But how many doctors do you know?

To suggest that doctors (or scientists) would intentionally hold back info that would help in this situation is ludicrous and, quite frankly, show a gross misunderstanding of how most doctors think. One of the characteristics of many doctors is that they think they’re the smartest person in the room (unfortunately they are often right which doesn’t help their attitude). If they thought they had a better idea they’d be telling people, don’t worry about that.

These conspiracy theories about big pharma and kids not needing vaccines, and likewise them holding back info that would help with pandemics, is absolute rubbish. Some doctors and scientists spend their entire life trying to find better solutions.

 

[Potkorok]

1 hour ago, WHACKO said:

Is it China saying China's OK. They denied it in the first place. Wouldn't trust them.

Oh it’s better than that. The CCP are now spruiking their genius at containment and making propaganda to inform the world how well they’ve done. Talk about hubris. If the local branches hadn’t hidden the illnesses and deaths and covered it up in the first place, this might have all been contained in Wuhan to start with. Let’s not forget the bravery and sacrifice of the local medical personnel there who fought to expose the dangers. But sorry getting off topic. #noEPLinchina!

[Burgerman]

So last night kosmina did a quick interview with some fans midgame who were outside the ground at a gate and was close to them, then went onto go back to sidelines which i thought is a bit silly and I think the league needs to isolated clubs more even staying away from Commentators and so. 

[Smoggy]

2 hours ago, Potkorok said:

Oh it’s better than that. The CCP are now spruiking their genius at containment and making propaganda to inform the world how well they’ve done. Talk about hubris. If the local branches hadn’t hidden the illnesses and deaths and covered it up in the first place, this might have all been contained in Wuhan to start with. Let’s not forget the bravery and sacrifice of the local medical personnel there who fought to expose the dangers. But sorry getting off topic. #noEPLinchina!

There was an apology the other day to the whistle blower Chinese doctor who died........China is in full blown media spin mode and no I wouldn't trust it for a long while yet in relation to this.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Smoggy

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

There was an apology the other day to the whistle blower Chinese doctor who died........China is in full blown media spin mode and no I wouldn't trust it for a long while yet in relation to this.

The Chinese Ted, great bunch of lads

[Unlimited]

4 hours ago, Smoggy said:

There was an apology the other day to the whistle blower Chinese doctor who died........China is in full blown media spin mode and no I wouldn't trust it for a long while yet in relation to this.

One reason I’m never setting foot in China

[Prydzopolis]

On 21/03/2020 at 10:23 AM, btron3000 said:

They need to be playing on April 1 when they will have received half their yearly payment, otherwise their cash reserves will be rapidly exhausted."

 

Absolutely and totally irresponsible. The government should shut them down.

I’ve read that if anyone gets sick, then the competition stops for 5 weeks. I imagine, 1 week for tests to come back, two weeks quarantine for all sick players & 2 weeks to allow players/teams to train again.

On 21/03/2020 at 10:34 AM, WHACKO said:

Is it China saying China's OK. They denied it in the first place. Wouldn't trust them.

I don’t think they are saying it’s okay. I think they are saying it’s okay for football to happen behind closed doors.

The biggest issue they face is that they are seeing a second wave of increasing infections from those Chinese nationals returning to China now that most of the world are closing their borders.

On 21/03/2020 at 10:27 AM, StringerBellend said:

If it is now ok to play in china, then I wouldn't put it past the the EPL will be look at playing their games there (think of the money they'd make)

I’d say unlikely because teams would have to self isolate for 2 weeks before they could train again. Maybe in the long term?

On 20/03/2020 at 10:20 PM, Prydzopolis said:

UEFA has pushed back euros to 2021 to try to give as many countries the possibility to finish the season by June 30.

What wasn’t widely reported at the time was UEFA had the initial plan to try to finish leagues before June 30 but have plans in place to push back Europa/CL early qualifying rounds if it isn’t possible.

[wendybr]

Don't know if anyone watched Offsiders this morning?

It was very interesting...discussing the appropriateness of continuing sporting competitions.

Pretty much each of the panelists indicated that it was not really sending the right message to have games continuing to be played. Certainly it was not right that players were sharing water bottles (AFL), and violating social distancing before and after the games....which was observable even in our game.

And they talked about games without crowds being a fairly hollow experience.

Thought provoking to say the least...a wake up call I think.

[Edinburgh]

9 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Don't know if anyone watched Offsiders this morning?

It was very interesting...discussing the appropriateness of continuing sporting competitions.

Pretty much each of the panelists indicated that it was not really sending the right message to have games continuing to be played. Certainly it was not right that players were sharing water bottles (AFL), and violating social distancing before and after the games....which was observable even in our game.

And they talked about games without crowds being a fairly hollow experience.

Thought provoking to say the least...a wake up call I think.

What's the difference between sportsmen and women going to work versus the rest of the population?

I know it's not that simple. 

Maybe the closed doors approach is more of public message than cancellation?

[wendybr]

It related to the inability to social distance, and also the constant travelling.

More social distancing is possible in games, but it is totally impossible to comply with recommended distances.

Plus...we are the only ones doing it.

Being discussed on ABC radio now.

[Generator]

Tracey Holmes’ radio show The Ticket is pretty good. Actual in-depth analysis of the politics and issues in sport, not some shallow puff piece parading as analysis like you’ll see in the Fairfax rags. Holmes’ coverage of the Sun Yang affair is a case in point.

For those who only take seriously those journalists with some level of football pedigree, Holmes has a long background in the sport, which has included covering Men’s World Cups with Les Murray back in the day and most recently anchoring the coverage of the Women’s World Cup

[wendybr]

3 minutes ago, Generator said:

Tracey Holmes’ radio show The Ticket is pretty good. Actual in-depth analysis of the politics and issues in sport, not some shallow puff piece parading as analysis like you’ll see in the Fairfax rags. Holmes’ coverage of the Sun Yang affair is a case in point.

For those who only take seriously those journalists with some level of football pedigree, Holmes has a long background in the sport, which has included covering Men’s World Cups with Les Murray back in the day and most recently anchoring the coverage of the Women’s World Cup

Yes...that was what I was listening to.

 

[Edinburgh]

1 hour ago, wendybr said:

It related to the inability to social distance, and also the constant travelling.

More social distancing is possible in games, but it is totally impossible to comply with recommended distances.

Plus...we are the only ones doing it.

Being discussed on ABC radio now.

My post was trying to comment only on the "sending the right message" part of your post that I bolded.

[wendybr]

5 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

My post was trying to comment only on the "sending the right message" part of your post that I bolded.

But that lack of social distancing my post referred to, before (the huddle) during (close proximity in playing) and after (hugs, close proximity chatting) set a poor example. 

 

Plus the air travel.... and we've all just been asked to refrain from non essential travel. So not setting a good example there either.

 

[Paul01]

Just now, wendybr said:

But that lack of social distancing my post referred to, before (the huddle) during (close proximity in playing) and after (hugs, close proximity chatting) set a poor example. 

 

Takes at least 7 times to break or change a habit. 

[Wobblies]

3 minutes ago, wendybr said:

But that lack of social distancing my post referred to, before (the huddle) during (close proximity in playing) and after (hugs, close proximity chatting) set a poor example. 

 

Plus the air travel.... and we've all just been asked to refrain from non essential travel. So not setting a good example there either.

 

One would now think that it is almost certain that all Football comps will be cancelled.

[mack]

It's going to go into a full lockdown very shortly. Unless the Government give dispensation for the three main sports leagues to continue then A-League, NRL & AFL season is over probably by Wednesday.

[wendybr]

17 minutes ago, Paul01 said:

Takes at least 7 times to break or change a habit. 

Yes.

You could see them remembering sometimes, and then, at other times, doing what they always do.

Even the elbow or fist bumps are skin on skin, and bring people too close.

[Smoggy]

10 minutes ago, mack said:

It's going to go into a full lockdown very shortly. Unless the Government give dispensation for the three main sports leagues to continue then A-League, NRL & AFL season is over probably by Wednesday.

Just breaking on SMH that AFL and NRL will seek whatever method they can to get around a lockdown, the show goes on. It feels like a stand off between AFL and NRL neither wants to be the first to shut down fully

NRL here - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-to-play-on-despite-pm-s-push-to-cancel-interstate-travel-20200322-p54coi.html

Edited March 22, 2020 by Smoggy

[Paul01]

15 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Yes.

You could see them remembering sometimes, and then, at other times, doing what they always do.

Even the elbow or fist bumps are skin on skin, and bring people too close.

Better than NRL players laying prone on tackled players for 2-3 seconds in each tackle.