Football has continued to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a new range of initiatives.
Premier League club Watford has offered the use of their stadium to help in the fight against the virus. Their stadium in Vicarage Road is right next door to the Watford General Hospital, and Watford chairman Scott Duxbury has vowed the club will do whatever it can to support the local health service.
There is easy access from the stadium’s Graham Taylor stand directly into the hospital site, and the local NHS trust is likely to use Watford’s facilities to hold refresher courses for clinical staff on how to deal with patients with breathing difficulties and also to host senior management meetings.
Duxbury summed up the initiative saying “we need to forget about football right now, and concentrate on doing all we can to support the NHS.”
Meanwhile, on the South Coast, Brighton has offered 1,000 free tickets to NHS staff when, and if, football returns, and Bournemouth have pledged to do the same, The two clubs are hoping to set up a baton system, whereby other clubs will join in the initiative, passing it on from one to the other, until a substantial amount of tickets has been made available to those in the frontline.
Elsewhere, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has donated €1 million (£920,000) to fight the outbreak in Spain, which has overtaken Italy as the epi-centre of the pandemic in Europe. The money will go to a campaign being backed by the Medical College of Barcelona, and the Angel Soler Daniel Foundation. It will help buy medical equipment and protective gear for hospital staff treating those admitted suffering symptoms of the virus.
And Lionel Messi has also donated €1 million euros, which, in his case, will be split between a hospital in Barcelona and one in his native Argentine.
In Germany, the players of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have reacted slightly differently by agreeing to take temporary salary cuts to help other members of staff at their clubs affected by the outbreak. Bayern players have agreed to a 20% wage cut, whilst those from Dortmund will waive an undisclosed amount of their salaries.
Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski and his wife Anna have already made a €1 million donation of their own, whilst team mates Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich have given a similar sum to a fund called “We Kick Corona”.
