Looking for crumbs of comfort in the postponement of Euro 2020 is one way of coping as football becomes an immense irrelevance ... but get realSay what you will about our monumentally mind-warping new reality but it certainty offers the opportunity to type sentences that might have appeared to be facetious attempts at satire a mere fortnight ago. Sentences like “Manchester United are working from home.” Or “West Ham’s Karren Brady has suggested there is an antidote to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.”If the latter reference puzzles you, let’s see it in action in Karren’s critically misunderstood Sun column from last weekend (in which she decided, among other things, that the Premier League season should be declared null and void and...
For all his flaws and wasted gifts, he surely does not deserve the vilification that has fallen upon himWhen Bernard Tomic announced he was the first player on the ATP tour to self-isolate after showing symptoms of coronavirus, the 27-year-old Australian was not drowned in universal sympathy.The Covid-19 pandemic has loosened the worst and best instincts of humanity and Tomic, who could have been one of the outstanding players of his generation, endured mostly a blizzard of scorn after telling an Australian newspaper on Sunday: “Since Tuesday, Istarted feeling not right. I already had shortness of breath and my immune system was low and run down. I’m currently in Miami and isolated away from everyone, as advised. I’m yet to...
The imminent financial turmoil is likely to exploited by those who already have most of the power and moneyYou may have heard about the 13‑year‑old schoolboy from Leeds called Oliver Cooper who, it has been reported, was sent home from school after selling precious squirts of hand sanitiser for 50p each. Cooper’s scheme was rumbled when he recklessly tried to sell a squirt to one of his teachers, although not before he had made £9: a windfall that, according to his mother, is being invested in “a multipack of Doritos” and “a kebab”.All good clean fun and on reflection almost certainly one of those stories that has been trumped up for the benefit of the gullible internet. But a reminder,...
The meeting, and subsequent spectator-less fixtures, will have an ‘industry SP’ generated off-courseIt is anyone’s guess how long it will last, but British racing will head behind closed doors at Kelso on Monday and, from “later in the week”, at the remainder of Britain’s racecourses too.No spectators, no bookies, no Tote, no atmosphere. Jockeys in particular will soon be working in a very odd environment, at least for as long as it is possible to run a race meeting without breaching the government’s rules on mass gatherings. Related: Horse racing in England and Wales set to be run behind closed doors Southwell2.00 Virnon 2.30 Twotwothree 3.00 Haasab 3.30 Exelerator Express 4.00 City Never Sleeps 4.30 Hang Tough Continue reading...
With closed doors, postponements and cancellations an inevitability, perhaps Premier League referees and Sky Sports cameras should instead relocate to supermarket aislesWhat will British sport look like in the peak of coronavirus? Not as we know it, is the general consensus, with closed doors, postponements and cancellations an inevitability. Though I’ve yet to see the computer modelling, my sense is that the search for sport-effect content will then become one of the great goals of our nation’s humankind. Indeed, as footage of panic buying continues to go viral, my preference is for Premier League referees to be redeployed to supermarket aisles. Mike Dean imposing himself on a lively pasta aisle derby feels like the coronavirus event we deserve. Related: Arsenal...