May the Sport be with you
By Shane Brophy
May 5th 2020 has become the modern day D-day as people anticipate what restrictions will be lifted, if any, in the battle against Covid-19.
Come next Monday it will be seven weeks since the country began its gradual shutdown in the battle to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Five weeks ago on March 29th, all sport came to a halt when Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing and Golf were the final sports curtailed as the government announced its most stringent lockdown measures.
The restrictions have worked to a certain extent with case numbers, death rates and admissions to intensive care units falling over the past fortnight. However, there is still a long way to go and any easing of the restrictions could see a spike in cases once more and put our health services under pressure again.
That is the condundrum facing the NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team) when they meet today from where they will recommend to the government what to do from May 5th onwards. All the indications are things aren't going to change a lot, bar some sectors of society such as construction and hardware stores allowed to reopen with stringent physical distancing guidelines.
A number of sporting organisations will be eagerly awaiting the next set of directions from the government on when they might be able to resume in some shape or form. The likelihood is that golf and pitch & putt could be allowed to resume in a social form only as physical distancing measures can be adhered to.
Horse & Greyhound Racing are likely to be next sports to resume but not as early as next week despite them having an opportunity to trial meetings successfully behind closed doors last month before the full shutdown came into place.
Single event activities such as sailing, canoeing and angling etc....could be allowed to resume in the near future, however multi-athlete sports such as Tennis, Badminton etc....will have to wait.
Last weeks direction from government that all outdoor events in excess of 5,000 people would be banned until the end of August virtually ensured the deferral of the inter-county GAA championships but provided hope that some club activity could get underway during the course of the summer.
GAA President John Horan refuted reports which circulated last weekend that inter-county teams could return to training provided they are regularly test for coronavirus but considering there are greater demands on those tests at the moment, it is hard to see inter-county players being bumped up the list.
The same goes for club players in both GAA and soccer and while physical distancing could be achieved in terms of supporters, the players would be at greater risk. Would a team that has a player(s) with asthma play without him/her? Would a player living at home with a parent who has an underlying medical condition take the risk of playing and picking up the virus? What about a player like Noel McGrath who has previously had testicular cancer? If club games do go ahead, considering most gate-checkers are elderly, where can sports organiations get younger people, plus there is also the issue of handling cash at the gates.
There are so many if's and but's with regard to the return of team sport that its likely we won't see much, bar in a regulated professional session until a vaccine is found.
For the moment, sports such as golf and pitch & putt will become popular just to give people something different to do as for all the stringest lockdown measures which can be employed, unfortunately we are going to have to live with Covid-19 in some shape or form until a vaccine is discovered.