Own goal

Post-goal celebrations are coming under scrutiny by English medical officials, with some calling for yellow cards to be shown to players who violate Premier
 League protocols. | POOL / VIA REUTERS  (Source: The Japan Times)

Back in the Summer the Premier League issued official guidelines on how soccer games should be staged, played and broadcast amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Players were told not to spit, clear their nose or surround match officials when the season restarted.

Some sports, such as basketball and tennis, penalise players for spitting, but football and rugby do not, so the players are free to expectorate.

Also, from the Japan Times on hugging:

"Chelsea manager Frank Lampard defended his players on Thursday amid a growing debate about teams celebrating goals with hugs and high-fives while the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic.  

"The Premier League was holding virtual meetings to reinforce the message that protocols must be respected, but Lampard echoed other top-flight managers in suggesting that was easier said than done. 

"'Football has and always will be a game of instinct. If we want to take the instinct out of the game then it is not that simple'."

It is simple. 

The NHS is being overwhelmed because some people will not change their habits. 

People are dying, jobs are being lost, businesses are closing. Families are having to survive on food parcels while the next generation misses out on their education.

The average salary for a Premier League footballer exceeds £3m a year. Instead of being a law unto themselves some sense of responsibility would be welcome .

Yellow cards needed?                            Source: The Indian Express (Photo AP)

It's not cricket!

Six Nations: Final round fixtures postponed until October                                Image: Express Sports

It came as little surprise that games in the final round of the Six Nations were to be suspended until October following the coronavirus outbreak.

If only that were all. It is going to get worse for loyal rugby fans.

The Six Nations tournament is likely to go behind a Sky paywall from 2022. It's just not cricket!

The government is reported to have rejected the chance to ensure the Six Nations fixtures remain only on free-to-air TV by turning down a call to include the tournament as a category A-listed sporting event which include the rugby union World Cup final, the football World Cup, Wimbledon, the Grand National and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It is sad but realistically Rugby Union is not what it was. Today, money talks. Winning is all.

Before their game with France, England coach Eddie Jones warned France to "expect violence in England’s Six Nations opener, doubling down on his pledge to unleash 'absolute brutality' on Fabien Galthié’s 'bright young things' in Paris."

One would have thought that England Rugby would be embarrassed by such comments. Instead Jones' contract was extended to continue his role until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The highest paid coach in world rugby, Jones is on a salary of £750,000 per year although he has agreed a 25% pay cut as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Sadly for the game and the enjoyment of fans, winning often follows dull games bogged down by tedious scrums. As former international hooker Brian Moore put it in one of his less biased comments: "Instead of being a means of restarting the game it has become a way of winning penalties."

The extent of the change can be seen when watching highlights of the 1990 Calcutta Cup recently broadcast  by the BBC in their Live rewind series with commentary by the late, great Bill McLaren. There is no hint of favour or partiality, unlike many of today's games when commentators appear to regard themselves as extra players for their favoured team.

In the 1990 game there was none of the excessive hugging, ritual tapping and patting celebrations which greet scrum penalties; just enjoyable, running rugby flavoured with some rye comments on play rather than on commentators' National teams.

Another aspect of the game needing urgent attention is the ritual spitting picked up from over paid professional soccer players. Hopefully players will become more aware of the health risks of such behaviour after the coronavirus pandemic and exercise more self control.

There are few fixtures that draw the nations together like the Six Nations. The government should think again.