PL must do more to protect our clubs! by Shenel
The Covid crisis is rising once more but as always TV broadcasting payouts along with fan attendance seem more important than the safety of our players!
Due to the ongoing increase in Covid cases in the world of football, you would think the sensible thing to do would be to postpone matches and give the league a longer break, as it won’t be getting better any time soon.
Yet the Premier League for whatever reason seems against putting the season on hold and in turn just postpones games if and when they have a high number of positive cases.
Well take a look at the Women’s Super League, a number of games have also been postponed this weekend including the Arsenal women’s tie against Brighton.
Meaning the women will now have a longer winter break than was planned but in the long run this is probably the best option for the players health!
For the men though the tough winter fixture schedule is still among us and it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere.
As much as I want the games to continue there is no doubt next year is going to be another tough one when it comes to playing matches for our players, what with the World Cup also taking place.
If games keep getting postponed and played at a later date in the new year then more and more clubs will definitely suffer with burnout and injuries.
This is not fair on the players and as much as they say the players well-being and health and safety is the utmost important, the way the games are continuing and the way the fans are still allowed in to stadiums in their thousands, well this goes a long way to showing that they do not care one bit about the players health and safety!
Look at the Bundesliga, they go by area and cities, and if the cases are high they allow only a small small number of fans or even zero fans in. In contrast watching the Leeds game last night, anyone would think there was no sort of a pandemic in the world. There was hardly a mask in sight in a packed stadium.
I want nothing more than to watch football every three days but not at the expense of the wellbeing and health and safety of our players and fans!
Yet cases will continue to rise in just another setback for the world!
But this is another day in the money grabbing world of football and the Premier League. And what do they care if it’s not their family member travelling to watch games and playing week in week out!
Gooners?
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
Let’s just cancel the EPL for the next 3 seasons and stay in our homes….virus is here to stay, time to get used to it.
Perhaps do as Germany has, situational decisions. I think that is the best way moving forward.
I have read that another 2 mutations and the original vaccines will no longer be effective. Also that with each mutation the virus weakens, but is more contagious.
Apply science and make the best decision possible. Fans have their decisions to make, and we simply cannot continue pressing the pause button on life.
I’m not saying ignore the problem, but we can’t simply retreat into a cave every time it flares up. People are dying from Corona, but there is also negative impacts and damage from shutting everything down again.
Mental health, drug abuse, suicide, all have been rising.
Well said….if you look at South Africa which has a high rate of infections and relatively poor health care the actual serious hospitalizations are extremely minimal.
Latest data:
“The hospitals have 7,915 Covid-19 patients of which 6.7% are in intensive care units, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a report on Saturday. Of the 532 people in ICU, 209 are on ventilators, the institute said.”
Thats 0.013% of the population.
Infection rate is becoming a more and more pointless stat. Keep in mind those stats include people that may have been in a car accident and just by chance have contracted Covid as well.
According to some doctors and professors, the Omicron variant may be more contagious than any COVID-19 strain prior but not more dangerous
So we shouldn’t have encouraged the government to enforce another lockdown or sports ban, because most people have already suffered mentally and financially
Also, according to recent news, in terms of seriousness, Omicron is closely related to a regular, seasonal flu..
These kind of articles just add to the fear mongering that has greatly contributed to worldwide loss of jobs, income, livelihoods, depression, suicide ect.
Touche
I also agree with what @PJ-SA said about fear mongering
I think the football authorities, including EPL handled things well last season in difficult circumstances. Why not believe they can do it again?
That’s what I keep saying. COVID cases are rising? So is people dying from malaria, cancer and auto crash. Covid is just here to stay, we should play our football.
Also about time the players woke up and realised the covid outbreaks in clubs is down to not having been vaccinated at all. One of the highest number of groups not vaccinated are footballers.
Addressing the 🐘 in the room.
Given that the fax has been ineffective against these latter strains, your argument falls flat. I have had COVID and have natural immunity against the various strains.
I have covid, two vaccines and a booster and have now tested positive again for Omicron.
The main difference is when I caught in February 2020, I felt like I was dying. People are saying this strain is only like seasonal flu, those people have obviously not had flu. This is more like a cold and the reasons for that I have mentioned already.
Get your vaccines, get your boosters, then once you have done your bit for humanity, please chat, until then you don’t deserve treatment if you catch it. For me it’s as simple as that.
This statement “One of the highest number of groups not vaccinated are footballers.” you made can’t be true.
Maybe because so many are getting heart problems , thats why they would rather takje there chances with covid.
So glad to see so many agree its not going anywhere , so should we shut down every year ain winter for the rest of our lifes or whould we accept its not going anywhere and start to trake our chances like we do when we cross a road.
The single most big issue for me is the amount of player not vaccinated against covid. This is something that needs addressing and probably should already have been.
NHL has one unvaccinated player and yet games are being cancelled.
It is an indoor sport and transition rates will be higher but cancelling games isnt the issue. The issue is many footballers are not taking up vaccinations.
why go to sporting events such as football games if you are in any way afraid of catching covid or any one of its mutations ?. i dont understanstay indoors, light the fire, put kettle on and enjoy the home comforts.d people complaining but still going to matches ?. where is the logic in that,please ?. we can all live without sport, if we have to , simples !.am i missing something here @, i am old,so perhaps.
OT – Harry Kane studs up challenge on Robertson. VAR doesn’t turn yellow into red. Remind me what the point of VAR is please?
That was serious foul play….
It certainly was
Yip stupid rule, basically claiming the refs seen it and because he has the same authority as VAR it won’t be overuled. Only if it’s been missed.
Is that the rule? I thought that if it is deemed a “clear and obvious error”, a yellow can be upgraded to red.
I agree with you but frim what I’ve read no, see below:
What will it not review?
– Any yellow card (including second yellow card leading to red)
– Any free-kick offence outside the box, unless a red card offence or if it leads to a goal/penalty
Or not, go figure 🤔
Robertson deserved to go but so did Kane. Tierney is having a mare
none of the two rules have to do with Kane challenge tho, no? VAR is allowed to reccomend a yellow, to a straight red if they think the challenge is dangerous. What they cannot do is reccomend for a yellow card offense. If Robertson’s can get reviewed, so can Kanes. But FA LOVES harry kane and would never send him off, which is why he does dirty fouls every other game and goes unpunished.
Watched it, Harry should have been sent off, no question.
“Whats the point”, you ask? Why, to undermine refs and mark their homework in front of countless millions watching TV world wide , of course!
That is why VAR is a stupid and ill conceived idea. Top admins should be backing, NOT undermining refs. They are following completely the wrong course, though I seem to be a voice in the wilderness in being totally opposed to the conception of VAR at all.
I would only change my mind, IF AND WHEN technology can be instant and transmitted privately and directly to the ref, as goal line technology does, which works beautifully and does not undermine refs.
THEN AND ONLY THEN I will suppport VAR. Not until!
My firm view is refs urgently need real backing from the admins .
I would for example bring in a mandatory six Prem match ban for diving. I would back the refs to send off, not book divers, and that six match ban would be doubled if repeated and doubles again to 24 matches .
That would cure it but right now it is a farce and not punished enough, simply because money overrides the need for real fairness and preventing once and for all the constant cheating that so damages our game .
A proper deterrent, properly enforced would work. But not the present slap on the wrist, which is laughably inadequate.
a
OT Chelsea drew again
Imagine if we had dropped Auba months ago and had been starting Martinelli and Laca…we could’ve been close to or even 3rd.
Liverpool are struggling… unfortunately
Spurs have missed sitter after sitter
Reality that none of us want to hear is that Spurs are likely to get better under Conte and thay have a lot of games in hand. We can only hope they drop points.
Heck of a game though
Tottenham missed sitter after sitter like Aub ameyang.
Nothing to scare about cause the variants don’t cause severe disease in those already vaccineted
we’ve just got to get on with it at some point, no? Omicron is the more contagious one and it’s not going away any time soon, but is less deadly. We could go the entire decade trying to dodge covid, so lets just cancel the league until 2030, right? The good news is i keep get to work from home which i’ve enjoyed.
If anti vax people are as smart as thry claim let’s see them all get a PhD, postdoc, and Peer reviewed publications.
Guess what? Almost every anti vax nut has minimal education.
Right on
I think this the best of Shenels articles I have read. It is a fair and sensibly rational piece and draws the right conclusion,IMO.
My own view is that a postponement, very soon now, of the season will be inevitable, with a later cancellation altogether all but certain.
You do not need a brilliant brain to work this out, but merely a knowledge of basic arithmetic, as cases are doubling, it seems, each two or three days.
We have Covid now in our own household, though are relatively well at present.
I also believe each mutation will be milder, though more easily spreadable, as seems to be mainstream medical opinion, from what I can glean from lisening to scientists.
But sheer numbers with Covid will certainly overwhelm the Prem and far more important organisations, such as the NHS too, I fear!
I feel the covid situation should be well managed and I trust the EPL to handle it in a mature way. That said, it is sad so many footballers have not been vaccinated, it is a must now.
Why is it a must? The immune system of a perfectly healthy person is very capable of dealing with Omicron. In addition, the vaccine doesn’t work very well against Omicron. So vaccination is clearly not the answer.
On top of that globally since the beginning of Covid 5.3 million people have died of Covid on a 7.9 billion population. This is hardly a ratio that argues for giving up free choice over what gets put in one’s body. Only last week did the CDC decide to limit J&J vaccine as a result of blood clotting and heart problems. These vaccines are all new and none of them have been tested long enough to know the long-term health effects. Next week it could be another vaccine that gets deemed to be risky. Leave footballers free to decide on their health, to force them into taking a vaccine that might or might not work or might or might not harm them is so wrong on so many levels.
It is time the world learned to live with this virus and to not buy into the political fear-mongering that destroys small businesses and funds big pharma for a product that does very little in terms of solving this crisis.
I have had covid as has my daughter and wife and recovered without much problem but I can not say the same for my business.
If this was such a scary disease why have so many politicians who decide on our lockdowns not been scared to party together without face masks etc???
Any news on Tomi?
I might be wrong but no player has died from any strain of covid, not have the died from the vaccine. I don’t recall many of them getting really sick either. Instead of clubs panicking, they should first ensure they have filled their squad requirements. Arsenal currently only have 20 players classed as over 21, so room to bring in more or recall their loan players. Many other teams are in the same situation.
Hey!!!!!
When are players and fans going to Protect themselves!!!!
Just get Vaccinated!!!!