The Premier League could be set for a major showdown with players over plans to restart the league season.
Currently, the season has been postponed until April 30th, with the United Kingdom in lockdown over the Covid-19 pandemic. However, faced with breaching lucrative broadcasting and sponsorship contracts if the league season is not completed by July 31st, the Premier League are desperate to finish it at any cost.
As a result, they have been considering various options, which include playing games behind closed doors, playing double, or even triple, headers, and restricting matches to the Midlands area in order to prevent unnecessary travel.
Last week’s decision to postpone Euro 2020 has also opened up space in the calendar for domestic fixtures to be completed by playing on into the summer months.
However, ambitions plans to begin playing again as early as May 2nd or May 3rd could be scuppered with players set to revolt, with many of them strongly opposed to the idea.
They believe that given government guidelines and the warnings from health experts, taking to the field, even in empty stadiums, poses unnecessary risks to their own health, and also to those of their families.
There is also a broader concern about placing an unnecessary strain on the emergency services. At a time when they are most needed elsewhere, diverting valuable frontline resources to attend at a football match appears frivolous in the extreme.
And then there are the practical aspects. Although the vast majority of players have self-isolated and may appear to be free of the virus, that can only be proved by testing, and there is a woeful shortage of testing facilities in the UK at moment (and they are needed for those showing symptoms of the coronavirus, not for apparently healthy Premier League footballers).
Then there is the nature of the virus itself. What makes Covid-19 particularly virulent is that many carriers are asymptomatic, so people can have the disease without knowing it. At a time when people are urged to stay at home unless absolutely necessary, the insistence of the Premier League on completing the league goes against all the prevailing guidelines and legislation.
Many people are desperately missing football, but they may have to reconcile themselves to months more without their regular fix until the situation improves.
