The major knock on effect of the coronavirus pandemic as far as football is concerned is something that nobody would have seen coming. Empty stadiums.
No matter what standard of football you’re used to watching, whether it’s the Premier League or down through the professional game into non-league, it’s a given that if you’ve got a few quid in your pocket, you can get a ticket and go and watch a game.
Near to us there’s a club in the Premier League, three in the Championship, one in League 1 and countless senior teams in non-league that you could easily visit on a Saturday afternoon. The Premier League team aside, you could turn up to pretty much all the others and pay on the gate and watch a game.
Not any more.
When this weekend (or weekday evening) pleasure will return to our lives, who knows? What has become apparent since the stadiums were vacated is that football fans don’t like not being able to go to games. Going to watch your team is a release, a break from the norm. You meet up with people, and talk to people, that sometimes you only see at football matches. It’s been taken away and it’s affected some more than others.
On social media, the view of the majority is that ‘it’s not football’. And it isn’t. Football is the people’s game. The fans are what make it what it is, either for good or bad. Empty, soulless grounds, with shouts from the dug outs echoing round isn’t what it’s about. People who are used to following their team aren’t enjoying only being able to watch the game on tv. The longer the situation continues, you feel the disconnect between some fans and the game may become permanent.
When fans are allowed to return to stadiums to watch games, it will be at far less than full capacity. More likely 25-30%. This brings the question of how the decision will be made by clubs on who is actually allowed in. Loyalty points and match ticket ‘lotteries’ are potential ideas to allow, say a third of maximum capacity into the grounds. But as the saying goes, you can’t please all the people all the time. Whoever can’t get in, won’t be happy. There’s no guarantee that those inside will be happy either. The experience will be vastly different to how it was.
Probably the biggest farce at the moment, is the situation that is happening at some of the non-league grounds.
Games are being screened to a socially distanced, limited number, in hospitality suites at the actual ground where the game is being played. Literally on the other side of a wall. Such is the complete mess of the Government’s restrictions, that they’ll allow the small group of punters to watch the game on a screen, indoors, but not let any supporters watch the game live, outside, in the stands in the open air. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
And all the time while these hair-brained rules are enforced, clubs face going to the wall due to lack of income. Macclesfield Town being the latest club to be wound up with debts of £500,000. Half a million quid sounds like quite a lot, and is to many clubs, particularly without match day income but at a Premier League club just 20 miles away from Moss Rose, there are two goalkeepers being paid that amount between them every week.
So, to sum up, football fans across the nation aren’t particularly enjoying the game in the current climate.
Grassroots football teams meanwhile, have just started their season. It feels like it’s been a long time coming and there’s anxiety that even though it’s here now, it might not run the full duration, depending how things develop.
It was my lad’s first game of the season on Sunday. The 1st round of the cup, at home against a team newly promoted to the same division. The teams had met a couple of weeks before in the Summer league, with us snatching a 2-2 draw in the last minute. With our less than convincing performance, the opposition will no doubt have fancied their chances, as well as being out for a bit of revenge.
To be able to get the game on, there were a few hoops to jump through, devised by the FA in conjunction with government guidance. I had a run through what we needed to put in place.
The main points being:
Downloading a ‘NHS COVID-19’ QR poster for the team and displaying it for spectators to scan with their smart phone. The alternative being writing details down with an old fashioned pen and paper.
Reminding parents to continue with government social distancing guidance whilst on the side lines and also when queuing for the tuck shop.
The pavilion will remain closed apart from access for the toilets. When visiting the toilets, face masks were to be worn.
Hand sanitiser made available at the tuck shop and everyone to be encouraged to use it.
Fairly standard stuff at the moment I suppose and if it meant being able to get games on, we were all in agreement that they were worthwhile measures.
The new season was a fresh start for us as a team. The club, Greenhill JFC, has a link to the oldest football club in the World, Sheffield FC, or simply ‘Club’ as they’re known locally. So, as we move up to u15’s, we now play under their name, in their colours and our manager has secured us a new home ground, with a pitch like a carpet.
There was an emphasis from us for the lads to start the game quickly – don’t let the other team settle, don’t be half asleep and try to get an early goal. I think with our new surroundings, new kit and new name, we’re there to be shot at this season. I also think we have a very strong squad this season and would like to think that we could have a decent run in the cup and challenge in the league.
My lad and me did his usual preparation and warm up – he does his stretches and some short sprints with the rest of the lads, then comes over to me for some handling and kicking practice. In eight years, this hasn’t changed much. Ever since I became his coach I’ve made sure his warm up is something a little bit more than a few of the lads firing half a dozen balls at him from a close range.
The game got under way and the lads did indeed start quickly, going 1-0 up in the first few minutes. In a nice change from the norm, after the goal the lads kept the pressure on. Not too long after they added a 2nd and 3rd.
In all honesty, if a neutral was watching the game, they’d probably think there was only one team in it. And on this occasion they’d have been right.
But it’s a different sort of feeling as the mum or dad of a keeper. At no point in this game, or any other game for that matter do I or his mum actually enjoy watching him play. Maybe there’s a bit of pessimism on our part. And it’s nothing to do with his ability, he’s a decent keeper who works hard in training to improve his game.
It’s just that he’s a keeper.
No matter how well his team are playing or how bad the other team are, it only takes for the opposition to have half a chance, or for the keeper to blink, or take his eye off the ball, or misjudge the flight of a shot or a cross and that could cost his team the game.
They ended up winning the game 5-1, comfortable winners – apart from my lad giving a penalty away for their consolation goal – the first he’s ever given away. The penalty aside, he played well. Made a handful of saves, took a few crosses cleanly and did well with his distribution.
But even with a result like that and with his decent performance, I didn’t enjoy a single moment of it. The knot in my stomach only disappeared at full time and it was replaced with a feeling of relief that another game was over.
If and when fans return full time to stadiums, we’ll be there and we’ll enjoy watching Utd but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to relax and enjoy watching my lad play. Who’d be a keeper? Or a keeper’s dad?
But I’ll always be there and I’ll always keep the faith.
Keeper of the faith 