Are the people behind The Barbarians are going to compensate the Rugby Union for losses and costs incurred or will it be "never mind chaps, we will do something for next season" ?
 

Up to 4,000 spectators to be allowed at outdoor events in England including sporting fixtures in tier 1 areas and up to 2,000 in tier 2 - none in tier 3.
 
This is asking for trouble, can spectators be trusted to observe the rules once they begin to congregate at stadia especially outside at souvenir sellers and the smelly burger vans? Not good when the local host community has to deal with the inevitable spike of Covid cases and another lockdown......no, keep it behind closed doors until at least majority vaccination has occurred!
 
This is asking for trouble, can spectators be trusted to observe the rules once they begin to congregate at stadia especially outside at souvenir sellers and the smelly burger vans? Not good when the local host community has to deal with the inevitable spike of Covid cases and another lockdown......no, keep it behind closed doors until at least majority vaccination has occurred!
I tend to agree with that.

Mark Palios, chairman of Tranmere Rovers and former FA CEO, was on the tv news last night and, whilst welcoming the principle of crowds returning, said having 2,000 in a ground would actually cost clubs money as they would have to put in place most of the facilities that would be the case for a normal-size crowd.

The lack of crowds undoubtedly does have a negative effect on professional football as an event, and some players have said they miss the motivation that spectators engender.

As an aside, what amuses me in a wry sort of way is when I'm watching a game on the telly with no crowd present the substitutes are seated socially distanced but when a goal is scored players hug and dive on each other much the same as in the pre-Covid days. Looking at Pathe News clips on YouTube of FA Cup finals and international matches in the 30s, 40s and 50s a goal was the signal for little more than a handshake as the players ran back to their own half for the game to be restarted. Now it seems some players sometimes actually choreograph goal celebrations before they go onto the pitch.
 
Do teams share goal bonuses this boosting contracted salaries for lesser players, hence the love fest?
They might do. Either that or they are rejected thespians. Unless of course there is a deeper significance.:wideyed:
 
Oooooh, TLY, I have an image in my mind that I cannot expunge yet if players cannot keep apart then how are fans expected to observe rules of social distancing in the wider community?
 
Oooooh, TLY, I have an image in my mind that I cannot expunge yet if players cannot keep apart then how are fans expected to observe rules of social distancing in the wider community?
It's a Wiki article but I think it's largely factual and is almost a history of the goal celebration.


What I can never fathom out is why some players insist on removing their shirt after scoring a goal. (I don't watch much women's football but does the distaff side do the same? Somehow I doubt it). I know that some footballers aren't the brightest buttons on the coat but even they should know that such an action is a guaranteed yellow card. If I was their manager I would be incensed at such behaviour, except that some managers probably did the same thing themselves when they were players.

Another thing that brings that wry smile to my face is a player kissing his shirt badge after he scores a goal. It's an action that suggests the player is committed to the club for life, then when a bigger club or one offering a larger pay packet comes along he will be off like a shot.

Note.

This conversation has strayed a bit from the Covid-19 In Sport title of the thread but in the miscellaneous non-aviation forums we tend to moderate with a very light touch in so far as strict adherence to the thread topic is concerned. With the sports threads it's a bit like a group of fans chatting on their way to a match or afterwards in a pub (when we are allowed to return to such places - just to keep some link to the thread title ;) )where conversation around the main topic often tends to go in all sorts of directions.
 
I regularly watch the Women's Team at Manchester United and the discipline is clear to see, no one dares cross the manager Casey Stoney. Of course the players go to each other when a goal is scored but never is there over exuberance. And the players are wearing crop tops for support with sensors to measure performance data.
 
Heineken European Rugby Champions Cup

Because of the Covid situation the Heineken European Rugby Champions Cup sees a different format this year. The 24 teams involved are split into two pools of 12 teams. However, each team only plays two other teams in their pool home and away from which a final pool league table emerges with the top four teams from each pool proceeding to the next stage of the competition.

However, within each pool teams don't all play the same other two teams within their mini group. One example shows Bristol playing Clermont Auvergne and Connacht home and away, but Clermont Auvergne plays Bristol and Munster and Connacht plays Bristol and Racing 92.

If that seems an unsatisfactory system then Covid has now introduced a further unwelcome element.

Several games have been cancelled - yes cancelled, not postponed - because of Covid outbreaks in team squads. These unplayed matches are being resolved by the rugby authorities awarding 28-0 wins to one of the teams in each cancelled match. I'm not sure on what basis they arrive at the 'guilty' party that is deemed to have lost the match unless it can be shown that one team was lax in observing pandemic protocols.

It's likely then in such a reduced pool stage of the competition that some teams will move to the next stage solely on the basis of being awarded wins for matches that they didn't play.

In my eyes this has devalued the competition and the eventual winner won't have the satisfaction of winning a competition that was based wholly on teams winning matches on the pitch. There will also be the thought in some people's mind: would you have won if all matches had been played?

In cricket's County Championship this year, which was also played as a reduced competition and renamed the Bob Willis Trophy, the ultimate winners, Essex, were not accorded the title County Champions. Perhaps something similar might now happen with the European Rugby Champions Cup this season although the cricket decision regarding the County Championship was made before the Bob Willis competition began.

There is no easy answer to this although I presume the procedure with Covid-cancelled matches was agreed before the competition began but whether the 'guilt' process was effectively determined then I don't know. Short of clear evidence that a team ignored pandemic protocols I don't see how one team can be deemed blameworthy in such a chance situation.
 
Why couldn't they simply delay the competition by one season? If the Olympics organisers can manage a huge event as they have done, then Rugby union should.
The answer probably lies in two words: television money.
 
Ah, outsiders running things. There is a lot of chatter about player fatigue because of scheduling and subsequent injuries, is this worth television cash? I understand some clubs survive on such funding which begs the question, Why?
 
Ah, outsiders running things. There is a lot of chatter about player fatigue because of scheduling and subsequent injuries, is this worth television cash? I understand some clubs survive on such funding which begs the question, Why?
In football the Premier League clubs are only able to spend those obscene amounts of money on transfers and player wages largely as a result of the tv revenue. I'm told that top level rugby is an immense physical trial and when, for example, the English Premiership clubs were playing twice a week during the autumn to finish the much-delayed season 2019-2020 (with a break of just four weeks before the current season began with an autumn international northern hemisphere cup competition thrown in for good measure) they were fielding separate XVs for mid-week matches compared with those for weekend fixtures. It would have been physically impossible for players to turn out twice a week. It's probably a bit like asking world-class heavyweight boxers to have major fights every week.

Given that arduous Premiership, Pro-14 and French League seasons lie ahead into the summer with the Six Nations in February and March culminating in the Lions' tour to South Africa in July, it might well be asked which competition should have been ditched with player welfare in mind.
 
Rugby Union European competitions

The French Government might ban its teams continuing in this season's Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup in order to combat the new strain of the coronavirus. It's reported that a decision will be made in the next 48 hours.

If that does happen there surely can't be any way that the integrity of these competitions could be maintained and their abandonment would look inevitable.
 
With no supporters, it could be indiscipline amongst players, not observing rules on socializing and tonight's FA CUP game could be a farce with boys against men!
 
With no supporters, it could be indiscipline amongst players, not observing rules on socializing and tonight's FA CUP game could be a farce with boys against men!
We have the farcical situation of players social distancing when off the pitch (substitutes for example) yet on the pitch when a goal is scored they are all over each other hugging and kissing - even rugby players celebrate enthusiastically when a try is scored these days. Go back more than 20 or 30 years and the most that might be expected when a try was scored was a brief handshake from a team mate - if that.

As for the French government's reaction to the pandemic situation and they order French clubs to stop competing in the European competitions, there are now questions about France's participation in the forthcoming Six Nations in that eventuality.
 
The practice of elbows has seemingly disappeared and loving hugs and kisses has returned and club personnel are habitually congregating in the stands. It is an attitude deeply embedded in the minds of people that distancing is not applicable to them unless there is pain involved. I suggest a loss of employment would be a good deterrent, or privilege where appropriate!
 
The practice of elbows has seemingly disappeared and loving hugs and kisses has returned and club personnel are habitually congregating in the stands. It is an attitude deeply embedded in the minds of people that distancing is not applicable to them unless there is pain involved. I suggest a loss of employment would be a good deterrent, or privilege where appropriate!
It would be a simple matter for the football authorities to empower referees to issue yellow cards when unnecessary physical contact is made after scoring a goal or on any other occasion in a match where contact is not a direct part of the match itself.
 
probably requires a rule change from FIFA, a sub committee of a rule change committee or even a player death from Covid. Authorities are simply too slow to initiate change.
 

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