Sturgeon can’t soften fan ban while virus cases rise
THIS is a truly momentous week for Scottish football both on and off the field. The transfer window will close at midnight tonight and Celtic manager Neil Lennon and his Rangers counterpart Steven Gerrard will be hoping their squads remain intact, and are possibly even stronger as the result of one or two quality additions, when it does so.
The Parkhead and Ibrox clubs are locked together at the top of the Premiership and if there are any significant departures today, if Odsonne Edouard or Alfredo Morelos are prised away especially, it will be damaging to their chances of lifting the title come May.
Yet, the implications of the coronavirus crisis mean substantial multi- million pound bids for the free- scoring strikers may be impossible for their boards to turn down.
“Anything can happen,” said Gerrard last week. “There is a financial situation at every club. We are going through a pandemic which is obvious to everyone. Some things might be out of my control in the coming days.”
Then there is Scotland’s encounter with Israel in the Euro 2020 play- off semi- final at Hampden on Thursday night.
It is 13 years since the national team has been so close to the finals of a major tournament – in 2007 they were a victory over Italy away from securing their place at Euro 2008 – and the sense of anticipation among their long suffering and eternally optimistic supporters is tangible.
Perhaps, though, the biggest moment for the game in this country is when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces whether fans will be allowed back in to stadiums, following consultations with Holyrood’s medical advisers.
The phased return of supporters to grounds was scheduled to start on September 14 – leading to hopes that some socially distanced members of the Tartan Army may have been allowed through the turnstiles for the play- off match.
But a sharp rise in the number of people testing positive for Covid- 19 led to the proposed changes to restrictions being pushed back to October 5 despite two successful trials at the Global Energy Stadium and Pittodrie last month.
Hopes are high in board rooms across the land that some good news will be forthcoming.
Neil Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, and Mike Mulraney, the SFA vicepresident, both appeared on Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland on Saturday to voice their unhappiness at domestic, European and international matches here still having to be played behind closed doors, and doubtless apply a little bit of pressure to the Scottish government.
“It’s a real concern,” said Doncaster. “Celtic and Rangers will be playing against teams in Portugal, France, Belgium, with fans in the stadium cheering on their clubs. So our clubs will clearly be at a big competitive disadvantage. That can’t be right.”
“I listen to the science and it does seem counter- intuitive,” said Mulraney. “I think it is driven by science, but do you think that sitting one metre away from somebody eating in a restaurant has less risk than sitting two metres away from someone in a stadium with a mask on?”
Doncaster is set to discuss the situation and whether any aid is likely to be forthcoming for his organisation’s members from Westminster, with Joe FitzPatrick MSP, the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, today and is likely to have a few choice words to say.
An SPFL spokesman warned once again on Friday that the existence of many old and much- loved clubs is under threat without any gate receipts to keep them afloat as they revealed the 2020/ 21 Challenge Cup had been abandoned.
Yet, is Sturgeon really about to soften her administration’s hardline stance when the number of cases, and the death rate, continues to rise to alarming levels? The highest daily number of fatalities since June was recorded last Tuesday. The situation is worsening.
Pointing at other leagues and sports across the world where crowds have been given the green light to return is facile.
Lennon questioned why the Kansas City Chiefs had been able to allow 18,000 into their opening NFL game in the United States last month but Celtic were prohibited from letting 300 into their 58,000 capacity arena recently.
Jason Leitch, the national clinical director for Scotland, quickly explained why. “Their death rate is the same as our case rate,” he said. “So I don’t think we should be taking our example from Kansas City. I’m not sure we should be taking our example from the US actually.”
Asking why the public are allowed to participate in indoor activities like drinking in pubs and eating in restaurants but are not permitted to go to a football match outside, is certainly valid.
But many other sectors face further hardship as well due to the sharp spike in cases. Cineworld are set to close all of their branches until next spring so putting thousands of jobs at risk.
It is a shame the Challenge Cup has been put into cold storage. It is worrying that some age- old institutions are in danger of going out of business. It is desperately sad that Scotland will have to play Israel without any fans roaring them on. The Celtic game against Rangers at Parkhead on Saturday week will be a downright bizarre affair.
However, when the lives of the population are on the line sporting concerns are trivial.
When lives are on the line, sporting concerns are trivial