Coronavirus in sport

[Gazz]

All grassroots football has been cancelled and we've been advised that we can't even train anymore as the insurance might not cover it. What am I meant to do with my weekends now?

[Lineker]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

All grassroots football has been cancelled and we've been advised that we can't even train anymore as the insurance might not cover it. What am I meant to do with my weekends now?

Wait until lockdown is formally declared and hope that the free Pornhub Premium subscription offer comes (heh) over here too, I guess?

[Szumi]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

All grassroots football has been cancelled and we've been advised that we can't even train anymore as the insurance might not cover it. What am I meant to do with my weekends now?

First name Penta. Last name Gon.

The name's Gon. Pentagon

[Lineker]

Euro's postponed until 2021.

[Gazz]

The in-play markets make some grim reading.

[stokeriño]

58 minutes ago, Gazz said:

The in-play markets make some grim reading.

I take from the name 'Tanzania Prisons' (plural), they are able to draw from the full breadth of what the prison system has to offer. No wonder they're the firm favourites.

[Lineker]

Quote

Barnet of the National League have responded to the suspension of football during the coronavirus crisis by putting all the club’s non-playing staff on immediate notice of redundancy. The club’s owner, the businessman Tony Kleanthous, told the Guardian there are approximately 60 employees being laid off, and he was holding meetings with them all on Tuesday.

Kleanthous said that as players’ contracts are protected in football and cannot be terminated early, clubs’ general employees are the ones vulnerable and, with no money coming in, he said he had no choice but to lay everybody off. He called on the Football Association to give more leadership in the crisis and for the Premier League to set up financial assistance for clubs lower down the football pyramid.

The funding for Barnet’s academy was due to end this season, having continued under the Premier League’s elite player performance plan system for the two seasons since the club’s relegation from the EFL in 2018. Kleanthous said the club had been budgeting to lose £100,000 per month in the hope that by spending on players’ wages they could challenge for promotion and keep the academy funding, but he was now bringing forward the redundancies of 15 remaining academy staff.

“My head is spinning with it, to be honest,” Kleanthous said. “I believe in doing these very difficult things properly and have had personal meetings with all the staff across the club and group to put them on notice.

“It has been really hard, a tough few days, since Friday [when the Premier League, EFL and Women’s Super League suspended their matches] and we could see what was coming. Apart from the players who are under contract, everybody who works here is under notice.

“Footballers are protected in the game, but my sympathies in this crisis lie with the cleaners, the receptionists, the marketing guys straight out of college, the match-day stewards who will lose their money which keeps them going in the week. These are the people nobody thinks of.”

Kleanthous, owner of Barnet for 26 years and previously a board member at the Football League and FA, said the Premier League needed to contribute some of its money to ensuring that clubs below its own 20 can survive financially during the crisis.

“I’m not looking for a handout from the Premier League, but they have a duty to football. They have enjoyed their billions for many years, so maybe for one year they need to say they are not spending their money on massive players’ wages, and are stepping in for football itself. What form that takes, I leave up to them.”

Kleanthous criticised the government’s response to the pandemic, pointing out – as other sectors have – that “business interruption” insurance is paid only when governments have ordered companies to cease trading, rather than merely advised them. The National League controversially played one more round of matches at the weekend before on Monday suspending games until 3 April. The government has still not prohibited sporting events, only advised against gatherings, so Kleanthous said the insurance, which is standard throughout the National League, did not yet apply.

“We still need a clear government instruction,” he said. “I also feel that a clear decision should have been taken now by the leagues and FA to end the season, so that we have certainty rather than kicking the can down the road. As it does not seem possible to play the remaining matches behind closed doors, we could complete the final league tables by calculating the rest of the matches on an average points so far over the season. Then we have some certainty rather than being in limbo like this.”

Jonas Baer-Hoffman, the general secretary of the international players union Fifpro, warned on Monday of potential “insolvencies and massive layoffs” for football’s employees, and called for a coordinated response in the game to the financial impact of the crisis.

[Bobfoc]

That's sad. I think Barnet have something like seven home matches left in the season, whereas most other clubs have four or five. That's a fair amount of lost revenue in ticket sales without a definite indication as to when the season will resume.

[Pooker]

Four Brooklyn Nets players have tested positive for Covid-19. One showing symptoms, the other three not.

Edit: Kevin Durant is one of the players that tested positive. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Pooker

[MDK]

 

[Gazz]

 

 

[Lineker]

Hearts have asked the playing staff to take 50% wage cuts.

The English Football League is to release a £50m short-term relief fund to help clubs with cash-flow issues because of the coronavirus outbreak.

[Colly]

My Monday night 7 a side game is off. This just got personal.

[DavidMarrio]

2 hours ago, Colly said:

My Monday night 7 a side game is off. This just got personal.

Our 5 a side game couldn't even get numbers for 4 a side tonight

[Benjamin]

The NBA is offering League Pass for free to everybody until April 22nd. That doesn’t help because I’m supposed to be WFH  

 

[RazorsEdge]

Our rugby league and Australian rules football is going ahead without crowds, though the state leagues (in which the clubs reserve players get playing time) are all postponed. The AFL has shortened the season by 5 games to allow time for any catch ups needed in case they have to shut down (as soon as 1 player tests positive the league is shut down for 14 days). It is estimated that this will all cost each club $3-5 million dollars and sees clubs like mine that don't have a huge membership base sweating over their future. Experts are saying it could take the AFL 10 years to recover from the financial loss.

[Lineker]

6 hours ago, Benjamin said:

The NBA is offering League Pass for free to everybody until April 22nd. That doesn’t help because I’m supposed to be WFH  

NFL Game Pass too.

[METALMAN]

I might rewatch the 2010 World Cup and pretend it’s really happening. I missed quite a lot of that one.

[TCO]

Premier League and Football League extend suspension to 30th of April and the 2019/20 season will be extended indefinitely.

[Bobfoc]

2 hours ago, metalman said:

I might rewatch the 2010 World Cup and pretend it’s really happening. I missed quite a lot of that one.

Me too, coming to think of it. My workplace banned all radios and we weren't allowed to use the internet for non-work-related purposes, so I only found out the results of most matches when I got home. I also missed a lot of the 2014 tournament because I was working nights then.

I don't know how keen I'd be to look back at 2010, honestly. I don't remember it being the most exciting World Cup. The constant vuvuzela droning would be annoying too. Maybe laughing at England has its appeal, though.