COMMENT: No Point In Playing Games Just For The Sake Of Getting Them Played

Derrick Lynch

I am not sure how much of a sports fan Joni Mitchell is, but one of the lines in her iconic hit Big Yellow Taxi can well sum up how a lot of us are feeling over the last few weeks.

Don’t it always seem to go; That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone

Since the COVID-19 outbreak shut down all sporting activity, it has left fans pining for the return of some form of live action. Everyone is united in the mindset that public health and safety is the number one concern and in the grand scheme of things sport is really a luxury we enjoy to supplement family life.

That being said, it is still a major part of our lives and one which has been missed almost universally. For example, last weekend was meant to be the start of the 2020 championship season for the Clare senior footballers while next weekend should have been all about Brian Lohan’s first time prowling the sideline as Clare senior hurling manager in no less of an arena that Semple Stadium against the defending All-Ireland champions. It should have been one of the most exciting and pulsating sporting weeks of the year for Clare fans and signalled the start of a memorable summer to come.

There is something of an irony in the fact that sport is so often that escape from the mundane that we yearn for, and now is arguably the time that we need it most. The return of the Sunday Game to our television screens to reflect on previous classics will only sate the appetite briefly, because it is undoubtedly the unpredictability of sport which draws us to it. It is all well and good sticking on the rose tinted glasses to delve back into the archives, but it is like having that perfect forkful of food slide onto the floor at the last moment. It still leaves you unsatisfied because we already know how the story is going to end, so there is still something missing.

There is no right and wrong answer to the question of when we should aim to have our sporting normality back. The first thing is that none of us know what our new normality will be, and what society will look like post-COVID-19. One thing is for certain though. If there is even the slightest chance of one person contracting the virus because of rushing things back, then it will all have been for nothing. There are still too many questions to be answered and still too many risks that would have to be taken. Health is wealth for a reason and none of us want to be paupers.

The other argument here is that there seems to be a language developing around how to bring the 2020 season to a conclusion. The mindset of ‘Let’s get it played’ or wondering how we can ‘run it off’ does no favours to the competitions or those involved. There is no point in just playing games for the sake of getting them played so that a fixture list can be confirmed and an administrative box can be ticked. The notion of playing games without supporters is just simply not an option. Not only does it demean a championship, it also excludes one of the most important stakeholders in sport; the supporters. People involved in squads make huge sacrifices to be ready for the big day, but so too does the family who spend the week looking forward to their Sunday afternoon outing and all that goes with it. Forget about the professional game, I am only talking in the context of amateur sport. It is a community led pastime, and it’s importance and significance is severely diluted if everyone cannot enjoy it.

However things play out over the coming weeks, we need to keep the health and wellbeing of all concerned at the forefront of our minds. There will be a vaccine at some stage, and there will be a 2021 to look forward to. The chief focus needs to be on making sure that everyone is there when that happens.