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So the Premier League is angling for a return on June 1st with some stipulations. The government has made the argument that football needs to return to boost morale in the country during the pandemic. They’re ignoring the health and safety of the players, coaching staff, broadcasting teams.
The last Premier League game played this season was Leicester City and Aston Villa in what was a 4-0 rout on March 9th. Since then, the season has been postponed indefinitely, with some wondering if the season will continue, or if Liverpool will at least get to lift their well-deserved trophy. These are valid questions, and while I think the latter should happen, the former should not.
The United Kingdom is playing a dangerous game if they attempt to put players at risk of covid-19 by restarting the Premier League prematurely. Newcastle’s very own Danny Rose had this to say about the League’s plans — be aware there is some adult language:
Danny Rose on return to football:
— The Spurs Web ⚪️ (@thespursweb) May 11, 2020
"The governments saying bring back football to boost the morale of the nation, I don't give a f*ck about the nations morale. Peoples lives are at risk!"
"Football shouldn't be spoken about till numbers have dropped massively. It's bollocks." pic.twitter.com/bdWBbTiZFR
Danny Rose speaks for a lot of people in that above statement. Players have not been asking to return to the pitch, and in fact, many of them would prefer to do it in front of crowds in a booming stadium than a training ground with only television cameras. The United Kingdom finds itself in the same position as the United States in terms of case fluctuation. Both countries have not seen a downward trend in cases and deaths, and social distancing is still needed to flatten the curve.
Right now, the UK government is concerned that citizens will continue to grow restless during quarantine, and that may very well be the case. Here in the United States, people have grown so tired of it, they’ve begun massively dangerous protests across the country demanding that it reopen. The hard truth is that the virus has not disappeared, and it isn’t going away until we flatten the curve and have a promising vaccine in development. Putting athletes at risk for the sake of “morale” is a dangerous political game and will unlikely yield the results the government believes it will.