Sport must find a better way to protect itself from Covid

For the second year in a row Christmas is under threat – and sport is not immune.

Every sport is having to think on its feet as more becomes known about Omicron and some are doing a better job than others of keeping the great machine going.

Cricket Australia are unlikely to have many issues finding a new home for the fifth Test after Western Australia closed its border, and of all the events over the winter, the Ashes looks as Covid-proof as it comes.

Perhaps all sports would be better off if they flew south for the winter as football and rugby are having a hard time keeping their plates spinning.

Tottenham have been gripped by an outbreak, forcing the postponement of Thursday's Europa League game against Rennes, and Sunday's league fixture with Brighton is likely to go the same way.

A postponement is not ideal, but is preferable to what we witnessed in Portugal recently when top-flight side Belenenses faced Benfica with only nine men. There is a novelty to watching nine against 11, but it’s one that would quickly wear off.

The first weekend of rugby’s European Champions Cup has also been compromised, with Scarlets forfeiting their pool match against Bristol after being caught up in Covid travel restrictions, leaving them with 14 available players, while the rest are quarantined in a hotel.

Cardiff Blues face a similar situation but have managed to scrape together enough academy and semi-professional players to field a team. Blues don’t even have their usual coaching staff, with caretaker boss Gruff Rees taking charge of what he’s branded a team of “misfits” for the visit of reigning champions Toulouse.

Rugby has found it harder than most to get a handle on living with coronavirus – the Champions Cup shambles followed hot on the heels of the Barbarians game against Samoa being called off 90 minutes before kick-off due to six positive tests. The Baa-Baas were insistent they had enough players for the match to go ahead, but officials didn’t concur and that begs the question: how can sport manage Covid better?

There is no easy answer to that question but one needs to be found if the integrity of sport is to remain intact. Take Formula One, where the stage is set for a dramatic conclusion to this year’s drivers’ title fight. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are locked together at the top of the standings with one race to go, but what will F1 do if either man tests positive on the eve of Sunday’s Grand Prix?

You couldn’t stage the race with so much at stake and it would be interesting to know what the contingency is were such a situation to arise.

A solution for individual sports is harder to come by but team events have more options, from larger squads to cope with outbreaks to making room in the calendar in the event of postponements.

We have to use the weapons at our disposal and if that means playing more games in the summer when the virus isn’t as transmissible then so be it. The sporting calendar has little wriggle room, but there may be little choice if we are to avoid events being regularly compromised or downright ruined.

Believe in the Cup

The Christmas season is moving into top gear and winter is just about to hit its peak before nose-diving under the weight of bad weather and unsustainable health pledges in January.

With no hope of jetting off for some winter sun, what is there to look forward to in the first month of 2022? Not much is the answer, but January’s one saving grace it that it does contain the best footballing weekend of the year in the form of the FA Cup third round.

Just the draw for the third round is must-watch TV. It doesn’t need any bells or whistles to create drama, just the knowledge that your team could be paired with any other, no matter their standard. I can only imagine the level of excitement among fans of Chesterfield, Shrewsbury and Swindon when they landed plum draws against England’s elite on Monday.

It is unlikely any of that trio will go through but there’s always that small chance, and that is what makes the competition, and in particular this round when you get more David v Goliath games, so enjoyable.

It has become far too common for clubs from the top two tiers to dismiss the FA Cup, and shortly after the draw it wasn’t hard to find arguments on social media for why teams should field the reserves in round three because they’d rather prioritise the league or don’t think they have a chance of lifting the trophy.

They’d tell you the ‘magic’ of the cup has gone and a look at the recent winners – 29 of the last 32 finals have been won by members of the big six – and the betting for this year’s competition lends weight to that argument. But at a time of year when you encourage kids to believe the impossible, why do we find it so easy to dismiss the improbable as soon as the decorations go away?

Focusing solely on the top of the tree is missing the point of the competition and at this time of year, we all know it’s who’s around the tree that really counts.

Third-round weekend is when a lot of fans belatedly get to open their footballing presents for the year in the form of a trip to a new ground or the sight of a superstar gracing their local paddock. It’s a break from the norm and should be celebrated, not disregarded in favour of the sterile Premier League or Champions League.

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