How can you socially distance playing football.

[HeIenaDove]

Given how people were asking the same thing about hair its a fair question to ask.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52439018

You don't, the "plan", if there is one, is that clubs have the resources to test all their players. Once they have clear tests there's no need to distance.

BTW, I know MN loves to hate anything to do with football but Premiership clubs pay c. £3.5bn in tax pa, contribute £8bn to GDP and support 100,000 jobs. It's not an insignificant part of the economy.

The players themselves pay more than £1bn in tax.

Being a professional footballer gives you special immunity. It is possible to make a 1"thick face mask out of a wad of £50 notes.

££££££

Not sure how this is going to increase the morale of the majority of women who don’t actually like it and will like it even less when their partners are slumped in front of the TV for hours watching game after game.

As I heard someone say last week ..

'We are all in it together '?? No we are not. We ARE all in the same storm together but in VERY different vessels.

Some have the money for a place on a luxury liner, complete with huge stabilisers and 5* state rooms. Whilst other are attempting to steer a pedalo .

Ketchupqueen1

You are not wrong.
Not to mention that incidences of DV shoot up after a football match. Not what is needed in a country where 14 women and 2 children were killed by DV perpetrators in the first 3 weeks.

This one seriously needs knocking on the head.

I have read reports that players will be isolating together as a team, presumably in hotels. Will be tested weekly (at their clubs expense) and strategically placed stadiums will be used rather than all 20 premier league stadiums to allow changing rooms, press rooms etc to be deep cleaned between games whilst using minimal staff across the league. So to be fair, these measures can not be achieved at lower footballing levels.

Obviously the massive sums of money involved are the main reason the government want to see the season restart but I do think there is some argument that football on terrestrial tv will keep people at home. Apparently Sky Sports are opposed to this, having paid tens of millions for the privilege of showing these games though.

But how many of them wont see their kids for months? When the kids go back?

Football would be my lowest priority.
I agree with a pp wrong to let it go ahead as no SD possible when small businesses will be going bankrupt.

I prefer to think what the idiot (men mainly) could have spent their millions on.

I wonder though about SD tennis though the ball could still get contaminated.
All the average kids losing out on swimming lessons. Australia and NZ will be winning all olympics in a few years. (Or should i say EU will be losing as looks like many other countries might keep levels low

To put it in context, thePremiership alone, before the other leagues are included brings c. £8bn to GDP. The entire hair and beauty industry contributes about £6bn, this really isn't about providing a leisure activity for men, it's about an important industry for the UK economy, finding a way to operate. Hairdressers could do the same, as an industry, if they can find a way to make it work.

@Keepdistance each team has less than 10 games left to play, they could play 2-3 games a week under the proposals so would be in isolation with the team for weeks not months. Many of them were due to play in euro 2020 anyway which would have meant a similar amount of time away from home.

There are plenty of nurses etc having to isolate from their families at the moment, these footballs earn tens of thousands, some hundreds of thousands a week, I don’t think they will get much sympathy from having to stay in a hotel for a few weeks!

The players in lower leagues don't earn much, particularly when the squad is made up of young academy players. The matchday staff, admin staff, coaching staff aren't on much either in the lower leagues (even in the Prem the pay for non-playing/managerial staff is rubbish). The revenue from the competitions and the league helps the smaller clubs to survive. Where a club has played a season most of the way through, and promotion is a real prospect that would secure their financial future, then I can see why the season needs to be completed. Otherwise the whole thing collapses from the bottom up.

Not sure how this is going to increase the morale of the majority of women who don’t actually like it and will like it even less when their partners are slumped in front of the TV for hours watching game after game

You are not wrong.
Not to mention that incidences of DV shoot up after a football match. Not what is needed in a country where 14 women and 2 children were killed by DV perpetrators in the first 3 weeks

This one seriously needs knocking on the head

Excellent points

I've said before on other threads how insulting it is to abuse survivors to use them as an excuse.

Lockdown doesn't cause DV, the pandemic doesn't cause DV, football doesn't cause DV. Violent abusers cause DV.

DV is no reason to delay football restarting. Nor is it a justification for premature end of lockdown. Fnd abuse services properly and put women and children up in the empty hotels and holiday homes. Practical solutions.

I can't be the only woman who likes football. It was far more more fun than netball at school. I enjoy watching it too. It's sexist and old-fashioned to assume it's only for men.

*Fund

I did think about putting a disclaimer on my posts to say that a lot of women like football too.

No its not a direct cause of DV But DV does spike after matches. And we dont need the risk right now.

Well I saw a four a side kick-about in the park yesterday. The police a actually appeared and the lads disappeared.

I understand your concerns Helena I just think it shouldn't be a reason to delay the football. It won't be postponed forever. Women and children will continue to need help regardless of football (and should be given it). I should add my own disclaimer actually: abuse can happen to men too and of course they should also have access to help. I can see where you're coming from given there hasn't been enough support for abuse victims so far. It's a shame for the majority of normal, decent, non violent football fans to miss out because of that failing.

DV spikes during big football tournaments because people men spend more time at home drinking, not because of the football itself, so bringing it back during lockdown when that's what people are doing anyway is unlikely to make much difference.

It's not exactly a contact sport.

They'll just introduce a new rule that players have to keep 2m away from each other. It will be enforced by wearing GPS bracelets that will give electric shocks when they get too close.

Or players will be sequestered like for Big Brother, after quarantine and tests, and will only come out to play.

It should work.

More seriously, in a future "normal" life with more tests and protective gear in most close situations, the risk from playing football should be low(ish).

Not sure how this is going to increase the morale of the majority of women who don’t actually like it and will like it even less when their partners are slumped in front of the TV for hours watching game after game

Hmm, yes I thought that might be the real issue.

The rules for work are to socially distance were possible givennits not a social environment

Many jobs can’t socially distance and they’re still going now

If you're going to close down an industry because of its effect on DV, alcohol sales might be a more effective place to start?

@SunnyStroll I agree, it would be completely unfair to put that solely on football. Should we ban all sports because of domestic abusers. They abuse because they are abhorrent people, not just because they watched a game of football.