Office Discussion: Should professional football be played during a pandemic?
Lockdown restrictions remain in place yet football seems to exist outside of the rules, can this be right?
On Sunday, a family debate erupted whilst watching the scenes of Rangers fans celebrating the club’s first title in 10 years.
Our family debate wasn’t about the fans themselves. Most people outside of the Rangers supporters bubble were quick to condemn the number of people gathered at Ibrox, the lack of social distancing and the possibility that the sacrifices of the last few months could be reversed because of the selfishness of a minority.
However, the scenes outside Ibrox did make us question why football, above any sport or industry, seems to have been given a free-pass to carry on as if there is no pandemic.
The question we were asking ourselves was, why should professional football be allowed to continue during a pandemic?
To begin we must remember that for 100 days at the start of the pandemic, all football stopped. Then, following training in small groups, football league and national league clubs were able to restart their competitions and, bar a shortened summer break, they have been ongoing ever since.
The reason that they were able to restart is due to the financial ability of the Premier and Football Leagues to buy antibody tests. Ever since, clubs have been duty-bound to test players and staff in the clubs, on the basis that, should anyone become infected with Covid-19, they and their family will self-isolate. Where multiple players have returned positive test results, some Football League fixtures have been postponed but in the Premier League, postponements would only happen if a club were to have fewer than 14 players available.
All businesses and industries sought to find a way to survive during the pandemic, the football authorities did just the same. Their money and resources allowed them to put a structure in place that allowed football to continue, albeit without fans present in the stadiums. They did what all business tried to do and have survived as a result.
Consider also that football is very much the current opium of the masses. Just think of Saturday’s scenes at Ibrox and think also that the global audience for the Premier League in 2018/19 was said to be 3.2bn people, a staggering figure. So, perhaps we could say that football’s continuation has ensured that football hungry fans got their fix, remained placated and obeyed lockdown measures? Would they have been so law-abiding if football was off the air?
Football fans in the UK will be happy that their beloved sport has continued but that has not been the case for all countries or for all sports. For instance, the netball superleague was cancelled and the English cricket season was shortened. In France and Holland, all football was halted last season whilst major competitions like the Olympics and Euro 2020 were postponed.
Moreover, for someone that does not follow sport, the question they may ask themselves is 'Why has football been allowed to continue when schools have been shut and loved-ones have been banned from seeing each other? Why is football so special?'
Whilst the rest of us do our bit and abide by the rules, why should footballers be allowed to carry on, pretty much as normal? Surely, the morally correct thing to do would have been to stop playing and mirror the actions of other industries?
Indeed, for the authorities in Scotland yesterday, the result of football’s continuation was a scene of hysteria and flagrant rule breaking. Should Manchester City win the Premier League in May then do we really think that Manchester city centre won’t be packed with celebrating fans? And if so, who is to say that this won’t then contribute to rise in infections once again?
For anyone that does not follow sport, the actions of the Rangers fans in Glasgow look selfish. Furthermore, the fact that football is ongoing at all appears to be about nothing more than money.
Forget the fact that you haven’t seen or hugged your grandmother for a year. Forget that millions of children have fallen behind with their education. Forget that you lost your job, or that you were furloughed. Forget that only essential travel is allowed yet football clubs head away on warm weather training sessions or to play matches in Europe. Forget it all. As part of the wealthy, privileged class, footballers can do what they want, football can carry on and football leagues and broadcasters will always be allowed to continue making money. Forget it all but don’t forget that when they could all been observing lockdown restrictions, thousands of people were dying.
Football has continued because it is a business, and it found a business solution. It’s also a global institution which would never allow itself to stagnate. As such, whilst the morality of professional football being played during an ongoing pandemic should certainly be called into question, when money is at stake, there is no room for morality.