Is it time to take a fire-break from Football?

[Spursex]

have so many flouted the rules a greater number have tried to do good, charitable gifts, then poor. Actually its predominantly overseas players that are culprits / or get caught

wasn't the first muppet to get caught out (twice no less!) our ex-muppet Walker!?

 

[RafasLeftFoot]

Well in our own team so far Jose, Aurier, Lo Celso, Lamela and Reguilon have been caught out.

Your not telling me that they were innocent, isolated cases?

Of course lots of players do great things for charity aswell. They are in a very privileged position to be able too.

I would add however that just because Aurier might donate 5% of his weekly wage to a local charity doesn’t excuse him from getting his hair cut and posting it all over social media durning lockdown or just because Jack Grealish spends 2hrs a week at a local children’s hospital doesn’t then exonerate him from crashing his motor whilst pissed out and about when he should be at f**king home.

I mean there’s no point in me running 7 marathons on 7 days to raise awareness for domestic abuse only to go home and throw the missus down the stairs because the poached eggs on my Eggs Royale are too hard.

You have a point, perhaps you should slow down on the running and stop mistaking your wonderful wife for a trip to Weatherspoons. Jack is the odd one out from the point I am making though! Perhap Spursex could suggest that they all get the sputnik vaccination.

 

[SheringhamNo10]

You have a point, perhaps you should slow down on the running and stop mistaking your wonderful wife for a trip to Weatherspoons. Jack is the odd one out from the point I am making though! Perhap Spursex could suggest that they all get the sputnik vaccination.

I’ll try that, she’ll be delighted

 

[SheringhamNo10]

I still doubt that even with the vaccine program here and in Europe whether this should be going ahead anyway - mostly because PL footballers are once again going to get feck all break from football.

They should call it off now.

Agreed 100%

Forget the Euros, especially with the format currently (x amount of host countries).

Call it off now. Take 4-6 weeks to get case numbers down then finish the seasons across Europe.

 

[Departed]

Nope, the general public are funding them. Football clubs revenue streams come form TV subscriptions, season tickets, merchandise etc.

I also don't see anyone caring so much about the mental health of the general public who can't afford subscription TV in that "essential service" argument.

So many anomalies :-)

No anomalies. Any distraction from what is going on is positive and, IMO, essential. And as for the funding, it is voluntary to have access to football in any form so that argument doesn't hold water at all. Based on the price it is accessible to most and those that can't afford it are likely illegally streaming it anyway.

If you want to reduce people to watching reruns or 24-hour news while they are stuck at home then so be it. People need a sense of belonging somewhere, right now they can't even do that with their families. They need some excitement and something to look forward to. Any sport provides that. Football covers the most people.

The other aspect of this is people having something to discuss other than Covid. Mental health is becoming a more prevalent issue as we progress down the Covid path. Don't dismiss the positive effect of distractions, a sense of belonging to something "normal", or the interactions that it creates on sites like VS so quickly.

 

[SheringhamNo10]

No anomalies. Any distraction from what is going on is positive and, IMO, essential. And as for the funding, it is voluntary to have access to football in any form so that argument doesn't hold water at all. Based on the price it is accessible to most and those that can't afford it are likely illegally streaming it anyway.

If you want to reduce people to watching reruns or 24-hour news while they are stuck at home then so be it. People need a sense of belonging somewhere, right now they can't even do that with their families. They need some excitement and something to look forward to. Any sport provides that. Football covers the most people.

The other aspect of this is people having something to discuss other than Covid. Mental health is becoming a more prevalent issue as we progress down the Covid path. Don't dismiss the positive effect of distractions, a sense of belonging to something "normal", or the interactions that it creates on sites like VS so quickly.

lock all the spurs squad away at the lodge for a month and we can watch nightly 5 a side competitions on Spurs Tv 80. That will generate enough entertainment and chatter on here for the next couple of weeks

 

[Spursex]

lock all the spurs squad away at the lodge for a month and we can watch nightly 5 a side competitions on Spurs Tv 80. That will generate enough entertainment and chatter on here for the next couple of weeks

I've always thought that Spurs TV miss a trick not screening youth/u-23 games from our academy, as well as well organized training sessions - now that would generate sponsorship opportunities, streaming opportunities as well which could spark all sorts of new opportunities!

 

[Departed]

I've always thought that Spurs TV miss a trick not screening youth/u-23 games from our academy, as well as well organized training sessions - now that would generate sponsorship opportunities, streaming opportunities as well which could spark all sorts of new opportunities!

Completely agree with this.

 

[Spursex]

Footballers who cuddle to celebrate a goal should be booked and repeat offenders SENT OFF, insists leading virologist - or else players can easily catch Covid and take it home to their families

• Football authorities need to take a tougher line with players who break Covid rules because huddles and scrums after goals present a high risk of transmission
• FA, Premier League and EFL are under pressure from government to improve the game's compliance with protocols on and off the pitch after repeated breaches
• Dr Julian Tang asks, 'why take the risk of spreading the virus in celebrations?'
• Game's administrators are yet to highlight sanctions against players or clubs

Football must change its rules to allow referees to dish out yellow or red cards to any player who hugs or cuddles a team mate, in order to stem the spread of mutant Covid in the game, according to a leading virologist.

The lack of social distancing in matches has become a huge issue for football after exuberant celebrations from players and staff in the FA Cup third round, and it is one of the factors fuelling calls for the game to be suspended.

But Dr Julian Tang has called on the sport's governing bodies to take action to reduce the risk of transmitting the new variant of the virus with a simple rule change.

Dr Tang's comments come after government expressed its 'growing frustration' to the football authorities over repeated offences in terms of on-pitch antics, dressing room celebrations or players breaking social distancing rules in their private life.

'We cannot keep going round this loop of saying it's a problem and it happens again,' a Whitehall source told Sportsmail. 'These things should not be happening.'
Dr Tang, a consultant virologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Associate Professor at the University of Leicester, said the way to tackle 'celebratory scrums', which are high risk for transmission, is to educate players and then impose a sanction, if only until most of the population is vaccinated.
'If you have a scrum you have close contact for several seconds and that can transmit the virus.

'You go home and you can spread it among your own bubble that can include elderly friends and family, which could put them in hospital or cause their death.
'So, why take the risk to yourself or your contacts from a single 10 or 20 second scrum. You don't have to do it.
'If it happens once you get a yellow card and if it happens again you are off.
'It is a disincentive for that contact, recognising that it could have much bigger consequences.'
The FA, Premier League and EFL are reminding clubs of their responsibilities with respect to social distancing, including on the field and in the changing rooms after this weekend's action.

Ministers looked on aghast, concerned that the public mood will only tolerate so many images of footballers living by different rules to the rest of the population, while most people face a bleak, open-ended lock down with possibility of even stricter rules to come.

However, the sport's governing bodies are yet to reveal any sanctions against clubs or players, who continue to breach social distancing.
Dr Tang said changes do not have to be open-ended, they just need to help football through this most difficult period, while the virus is spreading rapidly, and before the positive effects of the vaccine are felt.

'If you are going to play then be more careful,' said Dr Tang. 'If the players understand the risk and support it the rules can change and everyone accepts it for six months.'
The Premier League has asked referees to speak to captains and coaches pre-match' to avoid unnecessary contact' and there are compliance officers at the stadiums observing.
The league does not believe the referees' jurisdiction stretches to punishing players for non-compliance with social distancing.

However, Dr Tang suggested that the league is responsible for its own competition and it should empower referees to police distancing on the field for the sake of the players and their families.

In the latest round of testing, the Premier League recorded 36 Covid cases among 2,593 tests, down four on the week before. In the EFL, 112 Covid cases were recorded out of 3,507 tests.
The scale of the problem confronting the UK was starkly illustrated again last night with another 529 Covid deaths recorded - marking a 30 per cent rise on the 407 reported on the same day last week.
But, in a glimmer of hope the UK's soaring case load may be leveling out, 46,169 people tested positive for the virus - down 20 per cent in a week.

On Monday, Watford striker Troy Deeney claimed that footballers can't stop breaking new Covid rules because it is in their 'nature' to hug their team-mates during goal celebrations, and he called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shut down the sport.
'Unless the government or governing bodies step in and say, 'you cannot do this, you cannot do that', then it goes back to what's morally right,' Deeney told talkSPORT .


'You can't stop people from going away [on holiday], you can't stop people from playing football and naturally going to hug your team-mate who assisted you – it's something we've done for years.
'Ultimately, it's up to the powers that be to shut football down, and it doesn't matter if it carries on into June and July like last year, or we talk about it week after week as people make mistakes.'
And Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti insisted his players will continue to celebrate goals with each other until the Premier League orders them to stop.

Troy Deeney ) has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shut down football.

Ancelotti said his club were doing everything by the book and there was nothing to prevent his players enjoying scoring goals.

'Honestly, there is no rule that says you are not allowed to celebrate,' he said.
'We are really strict to follow the rules that the Premier League have put in place, to follow the protocols, and if the Premier League say you don't have to celebrate, you don't have to hug, we're not going to celebrate.'

 

[Spursex]

Former Tottenham and England striker Darren Bent has called for a 'secure bubble' to be put in place for English football over a four-week period to help stem the flow of coronavirus cases.

Darren Bent says a PL bubble would help football avoid suspension. pic.twitter.com/KFnQXjFo3J

 

[Departed]

Footballers who cuddle to celebrate a goal should be booked and repeat offenders SENT OFF, insists leading virologist - or else players can easily catch Covid and take it home to their families

• Football authorities need to take a tougher line with players who break Covid rules because huddles and scrums after goals present a high risk of transmission
• FA, Premier League and EFL are under pressure from government to improve the game's compliance with protocols on and off the pitch after repeated breaches
• Dr Julian Tang asks, 'why take the risk of spreading the virus in celebrations?'
• Game's administrators are yet to highlight sanctions against players or clubs

Football must change its rules to allow referees to dish out yellow or red cards to any player who hugs or cuddles a team mate, in order to stem the spread of mutant Covid in the game, according to a leading virologist.

The lack of social distancing in matches has become a huge issue for football after exuberant celebrations from players and staff in the FA Cup third round, and it is one of the factors fuelling calls for the game to be suspended.

But Dr Julian Tang has called on the sport's governing bodies to take action to reduce the risk of transmitting the new variant of the virus with a simple rule change.

Dr Tang's comments come after government expressed its 'growing frustration' to the football authorities over repeated offences in terms of on-pitch antics, dressing room celebrations or players breaking social distancing rules in their private life.

'We cannot keep going round this loop of saying it's a problem and it happens again,' a Whitehall source told Sportsmail. 'These things should not be happening.'
Dr Tang, a consultant virologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Associate Professor at the University of Leicester, said the way to tackle 'celebratory scrums', which are high risk for transmission, is to educate players and then impose a sanction, if only until most of the population is vaccinated.
'If you have a scrum you have close contact for several seconds and that can transmit the virus.

'You go home and you can spread it among your own bubble that can include elderly friends and family, which could put them in hospital or cause their death.
'So, why take the risk to yourself or your contacts from a single 10 or 20 second scrum. You don't have to do it.
'If it happens once you get a yellow card and if it happens again you are off.
'It is a disincentive for that contact, recognising that it could have much bigger consequences.'
The FA, Premier League and EFL are reminding clubs of their responsibilities with respect to social distancing, including on the field and in the changing rooms after this weekend's action.

Ministers looked on aghast, concerned that the public mood will only tolerate so many images of footballers living by different rules to the rest of the population, while most people face a bleak, open-ended lock down with possibility of even stricter rules to come.

However, the sport's governing bodies are yet to reveal any sanctions against clubs or players, who continue to breach social distancing.
Dr Tang said changes do not have to be open-ended, they just need to help football through this most difficult period, while the virus is spreading rapidly, and before the positive effects of the vaccine are felt.

'If you are going to play then be more careful,' said Dr Tang. 'If the players understand the risk and support it the rules can change and everyone accepts it for six months.'
The Premier League has asked referees to speak to captains and coaches pre-match' to avoid unnecessary contact' and there are compliance officers at the stadiums observing.
The league does not believe the referees' jurisdiction stretches to punishing players for non-compliance with social distancing.

However, Dr Tang suggested that the league is responsible for its own competition and it should empower referees to police distancing on the field for the sake of the players and their families.

In the latest round of testing, the Premier League recorded 36 Covid cases among 2,593 tests, down four on the week before. In the EFL, 112 Covid cases were recorded out of 3,507 tests.
The scale of the problem confronting the UK was starkly illustrated again last night with another 529 Covid deaths recorded - marking a 30 per cent rise on the 407 reported on the same day last week.
But, in a glimmer of hope the UK's soaring case load may be leveling out, 46,169 people tested positive for the virus - down 20 per cent in a week.

On Monday, Watford striker Troy Deeney claimed that footballers can't stop breaking new Covid rules because it is in their 'nature' to hug their team-mates during goal celebrations, and he called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shut down the sport.
'Unless the government or governing bodies step in and say, 'you cannot do this, you cannot do that', then it goes back to what's morally right,' Deeney told talkSPORT .


'You can't stop people from going away [on holiday], you can't stop people from playing football and naturally going to hug your team-mate who assisted you – it's something we've done for years.
'Ultimately, it's up to the powers that be to shut football down, and it doesn't matter if it carries on into June and July like last year, or we talk about it week after week as people make mistakes.'
And Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti insisted his players will continue to celebrate goals with each other until the Premier League orders them to stop.

Troy Deeney ) has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shut down football.

Ancelotti said his club were doing everything by the book and there was nothing to prevent his players enjoying scoring goals.

'Honestly, there is no rule that says you are not allowed to celebrate,' he said.
'We are really strict to follow the rules that the Premier League have put in place, to follow the protocols, and if the Premier League say you don't have to celebrate, you don't have to hug, we're not going to celebrate.'

Footballers who cuddle have rights that allow them to do so.

 

[muttley]

The referees don't even use the football rules. No point giving them any cuddle rules !!!

 

[meee93]

This goes back to my point on another thread. How hard can it be not to get infected as a PL footballer ?
They should be living in a bubble, away from their families if they cant be trusted.
They can be tested every day at the training ground.
The coaching staff should be under the same controls.
I dont know for sure but I suspect the infections in football are down to negligence and irresponsibility.

I completely agree. These people shouldn't be catching it as they have zero need to be interacting closely with anyone that isn't being regularly tested etc (ie their team mates). I think it's a safe presumption that most of the cases in the premier league are due to people breaking the rules.

Just like the article Ex has posted above, players should be getting punished for the hugging and the handshakes etc. When football was brought back it was said none of that would happen. But it's slowly all been forgotten about and seems like no-one is enforcing the rules.

Generally I would side with the point that football needs to be stopped as the league is showing that they are unable to restrict cases and keep people safe.

The problem also is that people for some weird reason follow what footballers do. So many won't realise what a serious situation we are in until football gets affected and gets stopped.

However I think there's a discussion on if stopping football is too late now to "save the nhs". Generally there's a lag of 10 or so days between a case and hospitalisation. With the last week or more of lockdown, If we are now at or near the peak of cases (NI announced today that we expect to be on the decline now for number of cases) then you would expect further cases from now on to result in being taken into hospitals that are over the worst of it.
In other words, stopping the football will help hasten the decline in cases but won't help the NHS to get through the peak.

I guess it all comes back to what the government's pandemic goal is (which is something the media has failed to analyse in my opinion).
Is the goal to allow cases to reach a level at which the NHS can just about cope before cutting things off? In which case I think the cases trajectory may just be ok enough to keep football going.
Or Is the goal to keep the number of deaths below a certain figure? In which case football certainly should be stopped and should have done so several weeks back.

 

[Gary Onedaysoon]

If there is a fire-break, circuit break or whatever you want to call it, it won't be a break as such but the cancellation of the season. With the Euros in the summer there simply isn't enough capacity in the remainder of the season to restart as we did last year. And it would be illogical to overrun into next season because hopefully, by autumn, we'll be somewhere back to 'normal'. There's no point impacting on next season to save this one.

 

[Spursex]

I completely agree. These people shouldn't be catching it as they have zero need to be interacting closely with anyone that isn't being regularly tested etc (ie their team mates). I think it's a safe presumption that most of the cases in the premier league are due to people breaking the rules.

Just like the article Ex has posted above, players should be getting punished for the hugging and the handshakes etc. When football was brought back it was said none of that would happen. But it's slowly all been forgotten about and seems like no-one is enforcing the rules.

Generally I would side with the point that football needs to be stopped as the league is showing that they are unable to restrict cases and keep people safe.

The problem also is that people for some weird reason follow what footballers do. So many won't realise what a serious situation we are in until football gets affected and gets stopped.

However I think there's a discussion on if stopping football is too late now to "save the nhs". Generally there's a lag of 10 or so days between a case and hospitalisation. With the last week or more of lockdown, If we are now at or near the peak of cases (NI announced today that we expect to be on the decline now for number of cases) then you would expect further cases from now on to result in being taken into hospitals that are over the worst of it.
In other words, stopping the football will help hasten the decline in cases but won't help the NHS to get through the peak.

I guess it all comes back to what the government's pandemic goal is (which is something the media has failed to analyse in my opinion).
Is the goal to allow cases to reach a level at which the NHS can just about cope before cutting things off? In which case I think the cases trajectory may just be ok enough to keep football going.
Or Is the goal to keep the number of deaths below a certain figure? In which case football certainly should be stopped and should have done so several weeks back.

Terrific post.

 

[Spursex]

If there is a fire-break, circuit break or whatever you want to call it, it won't be a break as such but the cancellation of the season. With the Euros in the summer there simply isn't enough capacity in the remainder of the season to restart as we did last year. And it would be illogical to overrun into next season because hopefully, by autumn, we'll be somewhere back to 'normal'. There's no point impacting on next season to save this one.

The Euro's should be and may well be yet, called off. We may well be months ahead in our vaccination program in the UK, but the EU may not catch up until the 3rd quarter - so going ahead is just plain stupid in my view.

 

[muttley]

The Euro's should be and may well be yet, called off. We may well be months ahead in our vaccination program in the UK, but the EU may not catch up until the 3rd quarter - so going ahead is just plain stupid in my view.

Agree, it should only be cancelled for health and safety reasons. I don't see a logic for cancelling it for football reasons, even the fixture congestion. The players will just have to ride it through knowing their own country were responsible for their fatigue, not the international schedule.

If it is cancelled, makes you wonder how much interest UEFA have made on holding our ticket money for 12-15 months. Quite lucrative I would have thought :-)

 

[Spursex]

Footballers who cuddle have rights that allow them to do so.

They really don't. Even Jose and the PL agrees with me:


The Premier League last week issued clubs with a new set of protocols, including bans on mass celebrations, high-fives and shirt swapping.

Mourinho says this weekend’s scenes were one-offs, unlikely to be repeated in the top-flight, and revealed he had already stopped celebration goals as a result of the VAR.

“I don't believe that at Premier League level in any team's dressing rooms we have this kind of celebrations just by winning three points,” he said.

"When you go down, to the FA Cup, to giant killings, to incredible moments for some clubs and players' careers, that can happen. Because it's the wild emotion of football that can push to that.

"I think now they will not repeat that. I think now with the exposure and the comments and the explanation of the risks, I think now the boys even with crazy happiness of a big day for them, they will control [themselves].

"During matches at Premier League level, the celebrations of a goal, I think more is becoming less. I don't even celebrate goals myself almost. Because of the VAR, I adapt and I went in a certain direction to controlling emotions and I believe the players can do a little bit of the same.

“The reality is that the big exposure was some celebrations after matches in the dressing room. And in the normal situation, that's the beauty of football, of a small team beating the giant. But in this moment, they have to control and adapt.”

 

[Nick Real Deal]

The strain on NHS staff is beyond my comprehension. They are having to cope with patients losing their lives one after the other like they have never experienced before. The mental and physical stress they are under makes me very sad. I recently spent some time in hospital and all the staff were very kind and nice people.
Any activity that increases the pressure on these people is morally wrong.

 

[Gary Onedaysoon]

I'm not disagreeing that it should be cancelled for football, health and safety or ethical reasons. But even if the Euros are also cancelled I don't see how we can restart without impacting on next season.

By the autumn most of the population will be vaccinated. So next season, in every respect, is a far more important than the current one.

And, FFS, we don't want Man U winning the league this season!