The coronavirus has had a crippling effect on all levels of football.
From top paid stars turning out for the European super clubs, down to 6 year old kids playing for their local grassroots teams, it’s changed how we can play the beautiful game.
It will have affected the grassroots pre-season that all teams will have had planned. Players in groups of 6 maximum, with a coach per group meant coaching challenges, especially if teams were holding trials for the new season. The enforced, different setup of training sessions meant it would be difficult to gauge the ability of some trialists if they weren’t already known to the coaches.
Gradually the new changes were eased and training returned to some kind of normality. Throw ins were reintroduced, as opposed to kick ins. Headers were allowed after being outlawed. The groups of 6, thankfully, disappeared and all the lads were able to train together. As well as training together, tackling was now allowed, as part of being able to play a contact game in the sessions.
Watching games has also changed. Watching professionals play for our favourite teams has now become an armchair activity for fans in Great Britain. With limited enjoyment it has to be said. In some countries, small numbers have recently been allowed to return to stadiums. Why this varies from country to country, who knows. By looking on social media over the last few weeks though, it’s become apparent that fans are getting fed up with how things are moving forward.
The latest development is the news that the games not already being shown on Sky and BT Sport are available for fans to watch. This includes Saturday 3pm kick offs. But in keeping with pricing the average fan out the game, to watch a game will cost £14.95 a pop.
What was an amazing opportunity for TV companies and the Premier League to win fans back over, has had a very different outcome. The fans make the game but they’re being taken for mugs.
Out of all the Premier League teams, only Leicester voted against the pay-per-view model. Some fans will pay the fee to watch their team, many others won’t. But either way the interest in our national game at the highest levels is falling away.
As a spectator of both Premier League and grassroots football, if I had to choose only one to watch, even before all this, there’s no contest. Grassroots every time. Don’t get me wrong, we go to watch the Blades when they’re at home and on tv if it’s an away game, on Sky for example. But watching my lad play, wins every time.
As I’ve said before, I have a knot in my stomach from kick off to the final whistle but even so, his biggest fan has to be there when he’s playing.
This is his eighth season of football and in that time, he hasn’t missed a competitive game for any of the teams he’s played for – school, grassroots, City schoolboys, County schoolboys. He’s been unwell, carried injuries and knocks but he’s played regardless.
It comes with being a keeper.
Other positions, you can shuffle the pack and ask lads to fill in, in a different position for a game or two. But as a keeper there’s an understanding that your position is unique. As well as your skills. Because of that, even from an early age, he’s put his body on the line for the good of the team.
An outfielder can get through a game in any other outfield position without too much drama. A right back for example can play left wing if needed. They’ll probably just come inside and onto their right foot whenever they get chance, rather than using their weaker foot too often.
But, tomorrow is different. For the first time in nearly eight years the decision has been taken out of his hands.
His sister was feeling unwell on Thursday night and into Friday morning. She had a temperature and seemed to be coming down with something like flu. Unfortunately, as is the case these days, after discussing it we felt we had to take her for a COVID test, just to be on the safe side.
The earliest I could book a test was 2pm on Friday, so I booked it there and then. When I took her for the test, they explained the results would be texted or emailed to me between 1-5 days. In the meantime, all four of us are required to self isolate. None of the rest of us have any symptoms but that makes no difference.
Until her result is back we’re trapped at home. Can’t even walk the dog. We’re convinced that it will be negative. Since Friday afternoon her temperature seems to have dropped and she hasn’t got a new cough, or had a change to her sense of smell or taste. As her parents and as people wanting to do the right thing, in shielding others from any possible infection, we felt there was no alternative other than getting the test.
On a personal level I think the government have created the situation we’re living in. The fear factor plays a huge part. After all, if you had symptoms and carried on regardless but then a loved one fell ill, how would you feel? I’m less than convinced about their knowledge of the virus but still daren’t risk it. My lad’s manager is also currently self isolating after being in the company of someone who has received a positive test, so he’s also missing training and games.
Grassroots training on Friday night, City schoolboys training on Saturday morning were both missed by my lad. The only question now as far as his football is concerned is whether the result is received in time for Sunday morning’s game.
Just to add insult to injury, I ordered him some new boots during the week and they arrived this morning.
So at the time of writing this, we haven’t got the result back. The plan for tomorrow is to get up and get ready as we normally would do on a Sunday and then sit and wait and hope that sometime before kick off, his sister gets the negative result we’re after.
Obviously the importance of him playing football is way behind his sister’s situation.
It seems bizarre though, that it’s odds on he won’t play tomorrow but not through any injury or illness to him and that his over seven year run of consecutive games will be halted by scare tactics brought in by the government.
It’s difficult and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed but I’ll also keep the faith.
Keeper of the faith 