Coronavirus in sport

[Kyle]

Dana White in "massive cunt" shocker. 

[Hellraiser]

Are we sure that Dana White isn't secretly Vince McMahon's love child?

[Lineker]

Summer of football fixtures schedule: All the games as top European leagues complete

[Baddar]

So much football. 😍

[stokeriño]

I expect that Chelsea will swiftly drop out of the top 4 and I'll want football to go away again.  

[Lineker]

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Premier League clubs have substantially changed the way they train amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the average time players spend within two metres of one another almost halving during the first week of contact sessions.

Project Restart is stepping up ahead of the top flight’s resumption on 17 June, with clubs given the green light to move from physically distanced small group training to contact sessions on 27 May.

The Premier League worked with STATSports to help shape those sessions as its technology provides data on the movement of players and how often they come into contact with each other, enabling clubs to assess the risk of different aspects of training.

The company’s Player Proximity white paper found the average duration of a player’s incursion within two metres of another was 3.3sec before Covid-19 – a figure that has now dropped to 1.8sec as clubs alter their operations.

“The early indications from what we’re seeing this week from working with the teams is that we’re seeing a substantial drop in the average incursion time,” the STATSports co-founder Sean O’Connor said.

“So going from 3.3 pre-Covid to 1.8 this week is the early numbers we’re seeing, and we expect that to maintain or even improve as we’re going on.

“I suppose the obvious things that are changing in that are things like the longer durations, where they’re maybe having a water break, sitting and chatting to each other or having certain technical or tactical drills where you’re in close proximity, or coaches stopping and breaking down drills. So that’s where we’re seeing a big chunk of the positive change coming.”

STATSports provide GPS tracking for the majority of Premier League clubs, including five of the top six, and are offering a different statistical turnaround on sessions, allowing teams to analyse the latest average rate and number of incursions.

“The clubs are actively looking at this,” O’Connor said. “Because they’re getting the data back to us, we’re able to turn it around within an hour and provide them with an overview of today’s session. They’re looking at their normal data in terms of performance and where players are at physically and trying to get them to peak for games next week, but we’re able to then add that second layer.

“So, within an hour of the data coming to us from the team, we’re sending back the breakdown in terms of the full session and for each of the drills and what the incursion time was and number of incursions. They’re looking at this on a daily basis and on a drill basis to make sure that they keep on top of it.”

O’Connor expects such data to be analysed for a while to come, allowing everyone to be comfortable with what they are doing as football plays out to an unsettling backdrop.

“I think they’re going out to train and once they get into that zone, they’re going to train as best they can. It allows the coaching staff, the performance staff and everybody around it to set them up to train and perform as best they can.

“But take away the risk areas, which will be maybe drinks and being able to sit in groups and recover together. Breaking all those up. I think the quality of the session will still be there, the data will still be high from a performance perspective but taking away the grey areas.”

[Colly]

I often feel like football uses data for the sake of using data. This is one of those times.

[Gazz]

I don't know what you mean. Did you know the average Premier League player now washes their hands 6.3 seconds longer than last season and N'Golo Kante's urine sample is 14ml more this season than when he was at Leicester?

[Lineker]

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Stoke were forced to cancel a friendly against Manchester United at the last minute after learning that manager, Michael O’Neill, had tested positive for coronavirus.

The Championship side had already travelled to United’s Carrington training ground before the match was hastily called off.

A Stoke statement said: “Stoke City can confirm that manager Michael O’Neill has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus following the latest round of testing on Monday. O’Neill had tested negative in the previous five rounds of testing. He will now follow the relevant guidance and undergo a period of isolation, whilst continuing to be in regular virtual contact with his coaching staff and players.”

O’Neill’s assistant, Billy McKinlay, will take charge of the first team during his absence. O’Neill is in his first season in charge of Stoke, having taken over in November and helped steer the club towards safety after a dismal start to the campaign under Nathan Jones. The 50-year-old stepped down from his role as Northern Ireland manager in April due to the shutdown.

Nobody from the Stoke travelling party interacted with anyone at Manchester United following their arrival at Carrington, with separate facilities having been made available at the complex.

Stoke are preparing to resume their season away to Reading on 20 June, a day after Manchester United are due to travel to London to face Tottenham and former manager José Mourinho.

[Baddar]

Heard we've been organising one with West Brom as well. Not sure when that's scheduled for. 

[Lineker]

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A Norwich player is set to miss the restart of the Premier League season after testing positive for coronavirus.

The unnamed player was one of two positive results from the 1,200 checks across the division on Thursday and Friday and he must now isolate for seven days before being tested again. Norwich are at home to Southampton on Friday. One individual at another club, as yet unidentified, also tested positive.

A Norwich statement read: “Norwich City can confirm that one of its players has returned a positive test result following the recent round of Covid-19 testing. In line with the Premier League’s protocols, the player will now self-isolate for a period of seven days before being tested again at a later date. The player must return a negative test result before being able to resume training.

“The club will not name the player in question and asks that his request for privacy and confidentiality are respected at this time.”

Norwich played Tottenham in a friendly on Friday, but players from neither set of clubs who may have come in contact with the player will have to self-isolate as they will not have been deemed to have been in contact for long enough, according to government advice.

The low number of positive tests in the eighth round of testing will again be seen as good news for Project Restart, which is due to get under way in four days. Aston Villa and Sheffield United is the first match on Wednesday, before Manchester City take on Arsenal later the same day.

A Premier League statement read: “The Premier League can today confirm that on Thursday 11 June and Friday 12 June, 1,200 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19. Of these, two have tested positive from two clubs. The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the league and results will be made public after each round of testing.”

[Gazz]

Novak Djokovic has tested positive.

[Chris2K]

There have been a lot of stupid moments during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Adria Tour event may be at the top of the list.

[Colly]

Djokovic is an anti-vaccination berk though, simply based on that I presume he's been wandering about inhaling COVID for the bantz.

[Adam]

He's definitely a berk. Ridiculous carry-on and now you've got as many as 6 or 7 top tennis players all infected, for what? Madness.

[JasonM]

As the NBA are still looking to run a shortened bubble league in Orlando (a state with over 10K new infected in the past 3 days), multiple players have tested positive over the past week...

Nikola Jokic - Nuggets
Malcolm Brogdon - Pacers
Buddy Hield - Kings
Jabari Parker - Kings
Alex Len - Kings
Two as of yet unnamed Suns players

The NBA nor the teams have made any statements about diverging their current schedule or canceling the season entirely, which 110% should be done.

I guess financial considerations are more important than the long term health of athletes, staff, and all the other thousands of people that will interact with teams whilst holding a bubble league in one of the biggest COVID19 hotbeds in the states.
 

[Lineker]

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Closing toilets at half-time, filling one in every three seats and a ban on away support are some of the ideas being considered to help get fans back into grounds next season.

It is expected that supporters will be allowed to return to English league stadiums in some form from September, if the progress of the coronavirus pandemic allows, but there are many challenges to making such an ambition work.

“Stage five” of the return of professional sport involves working groups from across the sector as well as public health officials, with reference to specialists in the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. Plans remain at an early stage but are being built around an assumption that grounds may be allowed to fill one-third of their capacity.

Watching the match gives authorities least concern, with sources party to some early meetings suggesting it has been argued that because fans will be facing the pitch the prospects of exhaling Covid-19 droplets on to their neighbours would be small. But the “brush past” risk when fans are moving around the ground is of greater concern.

That is why one idea under consideration is to close toilets at half-time. Customary queues could be eliminated if fans were forced to go during the game, a “nudge effect” that would help to regulate the movement of people. It is also expected that the “brush past” factor would mean seats towards the end of rows would be left unoccupied.

Another cause for congregation is half-time refreshment. One proposal would seek to change the Football Spectators Act to allow fans to drink alcohol in the stands, with staff bringing beer to the seats. In another move to prevent crowding, fans could be given tickets with a designated arrival time, with a window for providing contact details for potential track and trace.

As with the previous stages of the restart, government guidance will be interpreted by individual sports. In football it is anticipated that rules will likely be developed club by club depending on the size of ground, location and fanbase.

Given the limits on capacity, some clubs seem likely to want to bring in only home fans, with season-ticket holders first in line. The counter-argument is that some big clubs have fanbases who travel more widely than visiting fans.

Clubs could use loyalty points or a lottery to select ticket holders, but other factors may prove seductive. With family members not having to social distance from each other, there may be an incentive for clubs to let parents and children in first.

[Colly]

Drinking in the stands and closing the toilets at half time. What could go wrong?

[Adam]

Closing the toilets at half time I don't get. Everyone will just try and go before or straight after half time and the same problem will be had anyway.

I hope they can work out a way to allow fans in but I personally don't think I'll feel comfortable attending for a long while yet.

[Lineker]

The Tokyo Olympics should have staged its Opening Ceremony today