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Soccer coaches whose age makes them more vulnerable to Covid should be able to speak with their team on the field or via video link as part of measures to avoid a suspension of the national game, suggested a prominent public health expert.
Professor Keith Neale told Sportsmail that vulnerable people within the game could protect themselves, as in other industries, by avoiding indoor spaces, rather than suspending wholesale matches.
Some Premier League presidents have raised the possibility of a ‘circuit breaker’ as concern grows over rising rates of coronavirus infection in football clubs and communities. And West Bromwich Albion coach Sam Allardyce has spoken of the need to suspend games.
“I am very concerned about myself and about football in general,” Allardyce, 66, said after his team’s 5-0 loss to Leeds on Tuesday. I’m 66 years old and the last thing I want to do is catch Covid. ‘
Britain recorded more than 53,000 coronavirus cases yesterday on the worst day on record.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,479 players and staff from all 20 Premier League clubs were tested for coronavirus between December 21 and 27, with 18 testing positive.
It’s the most positive results in the league since the project restart. The previous highest was when 16 tested positive in November.
However, Professor Neale told Sportsmail that there are many options open for soccer, aside from suspending matches.
It suggests that the game could learn from other industries, which have managed to continue while protecting those most at risk, and suggests that soccer authorities need to do more work to assess how the infection enters the team’s bubbles and then spreads.
“You need to know where transmission occurs,” said Professor Neale, emeritus professor of epidemiology at the University of Nottingham. ‘Why is it spreading in football clubs?
‘Leagues may want to see why transmission occurs in team bubbles once someone gets infected. I suspect the changing rooms and the team coach are among the areas where the broadcast occurs. ‘
Ipswich Town has highlighted the risk associated with the day, which they believe resulted in five players and two staff members contracting coronavirus after a match against Burton Albion.
Manchester City has said it believes players and staff came into contact with the virus while visiting London to play Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals before Christmas, which included an overnight hotel stay.
But Professor Neale said that there are many options besides circuit interruption.
“The question is what do you do after the break?” Professor Neale said.
‘If the strategy is to protect players from getting Covid, then you send them into isolation, but when they return, transmission is still a risk.
“The footballers themselves, due to their young age and physical condition, have a minimal risk of serious illness.
“If the strategy is to prevent people from getting seriously ill, then the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly, are protected. Do you stop an entire industry to protect the people you could protect?
“Soccer can manage risks like many other companies, especially since it is an outdoor industry.
‘Do personnel who are vulnerable need to be in the coach? Does the manager need to be in the locker room? The team talk can be done through a video link or it can be done in the field ”.
The idea raises the possibility of teams being lectured in full view of the cameras in scenes reminiscent of Phil Brown lecturing his Hull City team at Manchester City when they finished the first half 4-0 down in 2008 (and lost the game 5-1).
And the expert suggests that clubs should avoid hotels too.
‘I was surprised [Manchester City] they were staying in a hotel, ”added Professor Neale.
‘If you can minimize mixing, you should. The disease is spread by meeting people and the fewer people you meet, the better.
Hotels were a recognized theme on England’s recent cricket tour of South Africa. Matches could be better spaced to not allow overnight rest from a long bus ride.
‘Why take the risk of staying in a hotel when you suspect they are potential risk areas?
Former Manchester United defender and now Sky expert Gary Neville has also spoken out against an ‘automatic switch’ in football.
He tweeted: ‘Soccer has proven over the past 6 months that it can function safely. It was okay to be cautious and concerned during the first crash when the virus was new and unknown.
In my opinion, it shouldn’t stop now. This virus will not disappear in 2-4 weeks !! ‘
And Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he ‘does not see the benefit’ of pausing the Premier League for two weeks as a ‘circuit breaker’ following a spike in positive Covid-19 cases among players and staff. .
The Premier League board is understood to have not discussed a suspension of matches and sources in Whitehall say the government is not seeking to suspend elite sport, which is governed by strict protocols to reduce the spread of the virus.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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