Months of concerted effort by all involved risks being buried beneath off-field confusion surrounding SaleThe knife-edge upon which professional rugby union is balancing grows more precarious by the day. As with many parts of the leisure industry, Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed vulnerabilities that might otherwise have stayed hidden. It has also shone a harsh light on the sport’s administrators and the leadership – or lack of it – they have shown in the game’s starkest hour of need.It cannot be easy and making certain decisions must have been painful. Not half as painful, sadly, as some of the muddle-headed thinking that has emerged. What price the credibility of the Premiership when even the teams involved have had no firm idea...
From the best-run Premiership club to the grassroots, all parts of the game are in peril but not all its ills can be pinned on CovidThere is nothing quite like a pandemic for exposing hard, uncomfortable truths. And, give or take stand-up comedians, nightclub owners and first year university students, few face a bleaker midwinter than sports that live or die by people entering their stadiums each weekend. The word “catastrophe” usually jars in the context of mere athletic pursuits but increasingly, in rugby, there is no ducking it.It is almost impossible to exaggerate the depth of the abyss into which much of the game – professional and amateur – in Britain and Ireland is now staring. At every level...
Tracking devices can be used to maintain adequate social distancing if supporters are permitted back in stadiumsAfter a kick in the teeth, a kiss of life? Sports bodies were left blindsided and woozy by the announcement on Tuesday that the return of crowds to stadiums would not only be “paused” but could be delayed until 1 April. Then came a slither of hope with the news that up to eight elite sports are now likely to be helped by a rescue package. The question now is how deep is the government’s pockets – and will the money really be enough?Make no mistake: this is a crisis so menacing it should come accompanied by the soundtrack to Jaws. How can it...
Coronavirus has left local sport creaking under financial strain and the public’s health is at serious risk if it collapsesIs sport overwhelmingly a force for good? In the days of Boy’s Own and brilliantine the answer would have been an unblinking yes. Now it comes with caveats and hesitations.Watching PSG in the Champions League final was another reminder of how Gulf states use sport the way a grand illusionist employs misdirection, diverting eyes and capturing souls. Related: 'I was the king of sabotage': Ronnie O'Sullivan on controversy, comebacks and becoming a carer Related: Patrice Evra: 'Silence is a crime. You can’t be in silence any more' Related: Leading athletes write to government for clarity on children's sport funding Continue reading...
It was a campaign like no other but the wealthiest still came out on top and the ever-growing gap between the best and the rest is cause for concernWell, we made it then. It was the worst of times. And either side of that, it was also the worst of times. Professional sport has never staged anything quite like the football season just past, 11 months of competition capped by that midsummer interlude where suddenly televised football became a contractual bind cranked out through gritted teeth to pay the bills, Premier League clubs going through the motions like a leather-thonged private dancer making eyes at the table of TV execs in hope of a second series.Plague, death and economic collapse...