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SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2025
That is not how football should have made its return

Sports

Shahnoor Rabbani
23 May, 2020, 06:30 pm
Last modified: 23 May, 2020, 06:33 pm

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That is not how football should have made its return

After watching the last week of Bundesliga, it’s honestly baffling as to what’s actually going on.

Shahnoor Rabbani
23 May, 2020, 06:30 pm
Last modified: 23 May, 2020, 06:33 pm
Bundesliga made its return on May 16 as all the matches were played behind closed doors with empty galleries. Photo: Reuters
Bundesliga made its return on May 16 as all the matches were played behind closed doors with empty galleries. Photo: Reuters

So football is back. Empty stadiums, but it is back.

After watching the last week of Bundesliga, it's honestly baffling as to what's actually going on.

There are tackles being made and man-marking too, but you have to maintain distance when you celebrate; baffling truly; double standards all over. 

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It was not good watching and did not make me feel like I was being cured from there being no live sports in the past few months. 

Initially, it felt like a great opportunity for the Bundesliga to come back and satiate the needs of those football-starved fans. 

But the lack of crowds, the dead English commentary and the lack of general intensity from the players during play has not done the league's reputation any good.

It however also must be applauded in the way Germany has been so much better at dealing with Covid-19 in comparison to Spain, Italy and England, where the leagues are due to start next month.

However, one must wonder why has football returned when the entire world is suffering from a pandemic when it is not safe to be outside? 

 

Rose and Deeney need to be heard

The English Premier League is set to return from the beginning of June, but players like Troy Deeney of Watford and Danny Rose of Newcastle have already voiced their displeasure with the league resuming so soon. 

"My son is five months and he has had breathing difficulties. I don't want to come home to put him in more danger. You have got to drive in in your own kit, you can't have showers, then you've got to drive back home in the same dirty kit you've got," Deeney said in a podcast.

"While we are getting tested and while we are going to be in a very safe environment, it only takes one person to get infected within the group. I don't want to be bringing that home," added the 31-year-old Deeney.

"I can't get a haircut until mid-July, but I can go and get in a box with 19 people and jump for a header. I don't know how that works. No one could answer the questions, not because they didn't want to, just because they don't know the information," the Watford captain concluded. 

On the other hand, Danny Rose has said players are being treated like "lab rats" as training began this week for the Premier League clubs. 

"People are suggesting we should go back to football like we're guinea pigs or lab rats. We're going to experiment this phase and see if it works or not," Rose said on the Lockdown Tactics podcast.

"I can just imagine people at home saying, 'Well they earn that amount of money so they should be going back.' For stuff like that I think is it worth the hassle? I could be potentially risking my health for people's entertainment and that's not something I want to be involved in if I'm honest," the England international explained.

 

Players still testing positive for Covid-19

Six players from various clubs in the Premier League have so far tested positive for coronavirus putting the decision to return back to training earlier this week under question.

None of the players' names was revealed initially although later it was found out that one of them was Adrian Mariappa from Watford, who was asymptomatic of the disease. 

On the other hand, the Bundesliga also had ten players testing positive for Covid-19 before they resumed training and the league resumed in time a week ago. 

Italy has had high-profile players like Juventus like Paulo Dybala and Blaise Matuidi testing positive but they have made a recovery.

Paolo Maldini and his son also tested positive but they too made a recovery as the Serie A plans to finish their league by August 20 and start the next season on September 1.  

But with players testing positive for Covid-19, the safety of them and the families they live with remain under grave danger. 

It is true that a lot of sponsorship deals, TV rights, and a lot of the fans want football returning back and a full season in the top European leagues and the financial loss will be huge if some of the leagues don't have a proper conclusion.

But they will be under constant scrutiny for returning under these circumstances and lots of players may not want to play.

The losses will still be there as without fans, the ticket revenue won't be there. 

Leagues in France and Netherlands being ended prematurely due to the Covid-19 outbreak have also been met with disdain and disapproval from certain quarters of the footballing world and that is at the heart of the problem.

Until the world fully overcomes Covid-19, football won't be back to the way it was, and the world of sports will be poorer for it. 

 

Football

Bundesliga / Troy Deeney / Danny Rose

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