17 May 2020 07:49:18
Ok i see that football is back on TV. See some of you are glad. I am not. Really don't care about football. Not my life. In those 2 hours, i didn't waste my time on the TV. I fed 25 families, a few stray dogs, distributed masks and gloves with my dad. Those 2 hours i will remember more than watching 22 people kicking a ball around the park.

Got a question for those who are happy that live football is back. Would you send your kids out to the park to play with the other kids knowing the risks of it? If your answer is NO, then why would you want those people put their life at risk to bring you game of football? Is it because your life is precious while their's isnt? Its ok students aren't getting education but as long as there's football, all ok right. And if you are willing to send your kids out, then may God be with you.

Sorry to sound bitter, but my next door neighbour is a frontline doctor and now tested positive for CV. For me that will always take precedence over stupid football.


1.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 08:05:46
I've gone to work everyday during the virus as has the wife .
Local parks have been busy of late and I will be honest we as a family we have taken the opportunity to get some fresh air .

Shane can I ask, are you happy for other people to but there life at risk?
Not just nurses and doctors but the men and women on construction sites, takeaway out lets, supermarkets .
Sorry to sound bitter but there are people up and down the country doing this everyday and a lot of people don't seem to at all .
Do there lives not count as much as footballers .
Unfortunately society is now in a situation where we need to learn how to live with the virus and stay safe as best we can .
Hopefully most do this and listen to and follow the advice given.


2.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 09:30:35
Sanitised, tested and temperature checked professional footballers where even the ball is disinfected a very different prospect to unaware children scuffing about in a park.

Yes, there are more important things than football but, if it can return safely and without risk, then why not?


3.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 11:13:58
I agree jred. It's ok for the average Joe to go to work for £9 an hour working 50 hour weeks potentially risking their and their families health but footballers should be wrapped in a bubble. I just don't get some peoples reaction to footballers going back to work. They will have the best medical care that money can buy.

Also people saying wait until there is a vaccine, there will be no vaccine any time soon, look at the flu, its been around for 100 years and yet kills 100,000's yearly.


4.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 11:36:49
Well done shan, keep up the good work mate 👏👏👏.


5.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 12:09:57
I agree jred me and my wife have been lucky enough to work everyday, I run my own family business, we're Agricultural Engineers but also have a diy/ garden centre where we have been able to stay open and set up a system where my customers can be as safe as possible but at the end of the day there is still a risk considering how busy we have been but I feel I have helped a lot of people keep a certain amount of their sanity, the mental health side of this is going to be a massive problem if people don't keep themselves busy so as long as people are sensible and use their common sense when they go out I can't see a massive problem with it, to say your in gods hands if you go to the park is over the top imo and a minimal risk compared to going to the supermarket, like jred said we have to start to learn to live with it, we can't stay locked down until there is a cure because that might never come, even then not everyone will get vaccinated.


6.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 12:33:16
I enjoyed watching the matches, all looked pretty fit to me, except the Schalke players, maybe they need to be tested again, they were awful. Great to have football back, much needed in these times and the risk is so low it’s well worth it IMO.

Well done on doing your bit Shan.


7.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 13:00:53
Jred, i don't know if you are too young to understand the difference between livelihood and a game. People can live without a game. Nobodys life depends on it.

Local parks have been busy but that's not something to be proud of. People flogging the parks are stupid. How many dead in your country, your city, your locality, your lane?

Where does football or any other game for that matter fall in that grand scheme? What is there to gain from a game of football and what is there to lose? Surely losses outweigh the dollars that are to be gained.


8.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 13:13:10
Well done for doing your bit Shan, and completely agree with you.

Nobody’s life is put at risk of people don’t get to kick a ball about a park twice a week. People’s lives will, however, be put at risk if 300 people have to work in stadiums for every game.

It’s not a choice between having no football until there’s a vaccine or immediately restarting the league. There is a clear middle ground where the R number is maintained at a consistently low number, the infect rate is kept consistently low, and testing and tracing can be rolled out at a community level to ensure new cases are identified and isolated. Then you can start easing restrictions, getting people back to work in a safe way, and eventually restarting inessential things like football.


9.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 13:29:00
Danny
You mean when it is deemed to be safe? Which is pretty much what everyone has said.
Shan
I don't think your even looking at the whole picture . Just arguing 1 point.


10.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 13:52:26
When it is conclusively proven to be safe. Not deemed. When direct evidence can be provided that new cases can be flagged and isolated before they spark additional s in their community.

Germany has had its test and trace infrastructure in place since March, and even at that their R number remains precarious. Starting back football there at this time is a risk, as evidenced by positive tests by clubs at the start of May.

Over here there is no test and trace infrastructure. The gov does not even have a fraction of the staff required to manage their proposed system. As such, safely restarting the EPL is a long way off. The gov must be able to demonstrate that the R number is stably bellow 1, across the country not just averagely, that new cases are low enough to manage with test and trace, and, most importantly, that the system of test, trace and isolate is demonstrably working.


11.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 14:14:08
If 5 people have a virus and they give it to 5 other people the r number would be 1 .
If 1000000 had a virus and give it to 500,000 the r number would be 0.5 . i'm not sure but I think there ate a lot of variables when it comes to the r number .
Has thd EPl not said it will implement its own testing strategy independent of the governments?
I'm sure there will have to be all different things in place for the epl to start . And even then it may have to stop again after a few weeks . Criteria will have to be met before the EPL restarts
The ed always says fans should never discuss money and finances, maybe the same should be applied to C.V.
When it starts it starts.


12.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 14:31:25
That’s precisely why both the R number and infect rate have to be consistently low before opening things up. You get to a point where the number of new cases is low enough to manage, verify the downward trend with the R number, and make sure that the testing and tracing infrastructures are in place to identify and isolate any new cases.

While the EPL can test. There are 300 people required for every game. Without tracing infrastructure there is no way of knowing who these 300 people have been in contact with. So even if they are tested, there’s no way of controlling who they could, potentially, spread it to.

You cannot isolate football from the rest of society, and that means football cannot safely return until such time as the wider test and trace infrastructures are in place.


13.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 15:20:03
The point is that the return of football may will bring the return of public gathering to some degree.

It's not about weighing the lives of footballers against the front line or low paid workers.

It's about keeping the risk of it continuing to spread to an absolute minimum.

Why bother bringing football back when it isn't safe to do so? The argument about having to start at some point isn't really relevant at the minute.


14.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 15:25:38
We will soon see when and if football returns.


15.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 16:17:07
I am sure there are many front line workers that regularly read and post on this site that don't feel the need to brag or broadcast what they've been doing and might actually welcome watching 90 minutes of football to help them unwind and relax after a long and exhausting shift. I think it's unnecessary to insinuate that anybody who decided to watch the Bundesliga is somehow callus or morally corrupt for wanting to watch a bit of football.

Risk cannot be fully eradicated from any situation and football will NOT return until deemed safe to do so and stringent measures have been put in place. The Premier League hasn't even been given the green light to restart again yet.

People don't need a moral chastising for wanting to watch a bit of footy on the TV. There must be a mature and sensible debate about how we navigate our way safely out of lockdown and the return of football is now different.


16.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 16:43:20
Really quite simple in my opinion. Ask the doctors and nurses who are really on the front line against the virus. They will tell you quite simply that we need to do everything to minimise the risk of spreading the . Playing football or any other sport is not essential. It carries risks. The average premier league player could probably sit tight and not have to work ie play a game for a year or so such is the wages they earn. There is no debate. Football is an irrelevance in the current climate.


17.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 17:33:09
Ah right DLIB. Bragging is the right word. You got me. I am fighting for a mother teresa award or better yet, a nobel prize. Happy now? Enjoy your football buddy. Stay safe and healthy. And pray that your loved ones stay well.


18.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 17:33:12
The average EPL player earns more than the average annual wage in one week, before tax. The majority could comfortably survive without taking a pay check for the rest of their lives, let alone for a few months until safety measures are in place.

The issue, however, isn’t EPL players, who are not in any great rush to get back playing while they would pose a risk to their families. Rather, it is the clubs who are worried about sponsorship income and tv income pushing for the league to restart.


19.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 18:51:11
Sorry Shan I was out of order!


20.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 19:14:34
It’s ridiculous to think we can contemplate starting any sport while we are still seeing 3,000 new s a day in UK. numbers and deaths are falling. But they’ll both still continue until a vaccine is developed. There are still no breakthroughs with a vaccine despite being four and a half months since the first case. It’s a minimum year away.

As with the economy though we are rapidly reaching a crossroads where there’ll be a judgement call on the damage of continued lockdown and suspension of services, events etc versus the absolute ‘additional’ new s / deaths you’ll see when lifting such restrictions.

C.V. peaked in the UK on 8th April. I’m NHS and personally i'd lock down til end of June ‘as is’ from a healthcare perspective. I’d can the resumption of any sport also. Sorry but it’s just not essential. That’s just not realistic though. There is a massive mental health impact on not ‘getting back to normal / establishing a new normal. And clearly government is, erroneously in my view, classing a return to sport etc as one of life’s essentials.

It looks inevitable that just as we locked down too late we will leave it too early. And before folk start with Germany are back playing football and Spain etc are out of lockdown nobody in the world has the current mortality rate we have. Deaths are 70% higher than predicted at this stage. And believe me this ain’t over for a long time yet.

The entire world is in a lose-lose situation with C.V. It will be heartbreaking to see many businesses, football clubs included, go under as a result of it. But that may well be the reality we need to adjust to. Surely peoples lives are worth more than sport though.


21.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 19:50:21
Up to the footballers if they want to risk it or not. Personally, if I could afford it, I wouldn't go back to work either until it was deemed safe.

I feel for all those that have to go to work, I really do, I wish that they didn't have to. But that's the world we live in, ordinary people have to work to afford their bills, rent etc.

I couldn't give a toss about whether or not football is back next month or the month after. When the science determines it safe and the players feel safe, then they should go back. They have a choice. We don't.


22.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 20:32:12
Angel i agree with that.
I understand the clubs need the money returning will bring in. I just don't see the rush. They will get the same tv money if they start in July as opposed to June i'm sure.
I'm not that bothered about the football and I'm not missing it that much at the moment. I know that's not the case for many but I've quite enjoyed the break from it and gained lots of time that I've enjoyed doing other things.
I know ill watch the united games and I'm looking forward to that buy i think I'll end up watching a lot less football in the 12 months ahead. Football without fans loses a lot of the appeal for me particularly when watching games as a neutral.


23.) 17 May 2020
17 May 2020 21:59:46
The ebb and flow of games will be completely different. How many times has a crunching tackle ignited a dull game. A flurry of chances woken a crowd up. The inevitability of a late goal when The home team are battering the away teams goal.

The fans are like a conductor of an orchestra, done right it makes all the difference. Without it, you really notice it not being there.