In a very encouraging turn of events, three of Europe’s biggest leagues have recently announced the dates for the resumption of their 2019/2020 seasons which were brought to an abrupt halt a little over two months ago, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
When the global number of infections started to rise quite significantly in late February/early March, Spain and Italy were among the first few countries in the world to suffer the most, and were at some point the virus’ hotbed, with the number of deaths in those countries higher than that of most countries in the world. But over the last few days – Sunday and Monday – the countries’ top division football leagues, La Liga and Serie A, announced that they would be resuming after being forced to suspend their games in March.
La Liga were the first of the two to make known that they would be resuming their league next Thursday, June 11, before the Italian Serie A also announced that they would be going back to the fields a little over a week after that, on June 20. This follows a significant improvement in terms of the rate of Covid-19 infections and the related deaths, which has also seen lockdown restrictions in both countries eased and life slowly returning to a degree of normality.
Developments in Spain and Italy came after the English Premier League, the biggest in the world, also announced its plans to resume on June 17, although that is still to be ratified by their country’s government. All three of these leagues have made plans to get back to playing without fans at stadiums, which is a precautionary measure aimed at reducing the possibility of the spreading again of the deadly virus.
Germany’s Bundesliga was, of course, the first of the major leagues in Europe to resume three weeks ago, and provided great leadership in showing that it was indeed possible to hold football matches amid the health risk. That we haven’t yet heard of any infections at any of the 18 clubs in the top division since they returned to playing, is encouraging and serves as a great example that the sport can indeed resume, provided the necessary strict precautions are taken.
The other good thing about the Bundesliga’s smooth resumption is that it will also show other leagues, which might be a bit more sceptical about the idea of playing behind closed doors, that it is indeed possible and is not the worst thing that could happen.
But over and above its importance to football and sports fans, the return to action of these leagues and potentially others, is an important piece of good news that the world over could do with in this difficult time.
In the words of Proteas legend and former captain Shaun Pollock, the return of live sport on the television sets will serve as therapy to millions of people around the world who have been forced to stay in their homes due to the different countries’ lockdown regulations.
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