Stephen Halliday: 50 days without football and counting

If it seems like a life sentence so far, we ain’t seen nothing yet
George Edmundson heads home Rangers’ goal in the 3-1 Europa League defeat by Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox, the last game in Scotland before the shutdown. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNSGeorge Edmundson heads home Rangers’ goal in the 3-1 Europa League defeat by Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox, the last game in Scotland before the shutdown. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS
George Edmundson heads home Rangers’ goal in the 3-1 Europa League defeat by Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox, the last game in Scotland before the shutdown. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

It is now 50 days and counting since Polish referee Szymon Marciniak blew his whistle for full-time in the Europa League round of 16 first-leg match between Rangers and Bayer Leverkusen.

None of us who were at Ibrox that night could quite have imagined the drastic changes our daily lives were about to undertake.

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The day after Rangers lost 3-1 to the Bundesliga side, all football in Scotland was suspended until further notice. Just over a week later, the government placed the country in Covid-19 lockdown.

In the new reality to which we have all had to become accustomed, it is difficult to contemplate returning to that environment of 50 days earlier and sharing a stadium with just under 50,000 other people.

While we wait and hope for the easing of restrictions placed upon society, the return of football in any shape or form appears more problematical by the day.

Even for a competition as cash-rich as the English Premier League, the logistics are daunting. While the 20 clubs have resolved to try to complete the outstanding 92 fixtures of the 2019-20 campaign, the myriad health and safety issues involved in making that a reality must raise serious doubts over whether it would be an appropriate use of resources.

Players and officials of all clubs would require to be tested for coronavirus twice a week, as well as being screened for symptoms on a daily basis.

Quarantined training camps have been mooted, while matches would take place behind closed doors at selected neutral venues. Players would have to put on protective equipment at all times, including the wearing of face masks during games.

It is hard to disagree with the sentiments of Brighton striker Glenn Murray who has forcibly questioned the prospect of returning to action in such circumstances.

At 36 and in the twilight of his playing career, Murray would be excused from eagerly accepting the chance to get back on to a pitch as quickly as possible. But while he understands the impatience among the football fraternity to get the sport up and running again, Murray was quick to point out how ludicrous a spectacle it is likely to be.

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“Face masks are going to be off-putting. It is not going to be natural,” said Murray. “People will be ripping them off in games. It is quite farcical.

“I understand why people are desperate to get football on. It has to be done in a sensible way and in the right time and in a way that is going to keep everyone safe.

“There will be ambulances at training and games. Is it fair to take those from the NHS? I don’t know. It is not just two squads, there is a lot more involved and it puts more people at risk.”

It remains preferable for every top-flight league in Europe to try to finish the 2019-20 campaign on the pitch. Like their English counterparts, the SPFL should keep that option open for the Premiership just as long as government advice allows them to.

Along with other major sports governing bodies in Scotland, the SPFL will meet with Scottish Government sports minister Joe FitzPatrick on Tuesday when a greater degree of clarity may emerge.

But even those most vehemently opposed to the notion of ending the Premiership and awarding final placings on a points-per-game basis as the table stands have to accept that the odds are stacked against the resumption of football in Scotland any time soon.

The French League’s decision this week to end their season, crowning Paris Saint-Germain champions and relegating Amiens and Toulouse after government banned all sport until September, felt like the most telling indicator yet that restarting 
2019-20 is already a dead duck.

If going 50 days without football feels like a life sentence for some, we may have seen nothing yet.

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