Coronavirus and pro sport

RichN95.

McLaren are losing 1200 jobs, so I guess their Bahrain sponsorship will follow

blazing_saddles

RichN95. said:

McLaren are losing 1200 jobs, so I guess their Bahrain sponsorship will follow

It does seems that Rod Ellingworth and his followers have left their comfy firesides and jumped into the frying pan.
Not that anyone could have foreseen this.

Dorset_Boy

blazing_saddles said:

RichN95. said:

McLaren are losing 1200 jobs, so I guess their Bahrain sponsorship will follow

It does seems that Rod Ellingworth and his followers have left their comfy firesides and jumped into the frying pan.
Not that anyone could have foreseen this.

Just need the Bahrain royals to empty their pockets of their small change, surely?

blazing_saddles

Fair play to the Aussie rugby league that kicked off today, behind closed doors.
I recorded the match live off Sky Sports Mix out of curiosity and they have gone the extra mile.
Besides the usual musical interludes that accompany rugby matches these days, they also piped crowd noise over the ground's speakers.
Not only that, they managed to synchronise it with the action, which certainly added an extra dimension to the coverage.

TheBigBean

blazing_saddles said:

Fair play to the Aussie rugby league that kicked off today, behind closed doors.
I recorded the match live off Sky Sports Mix out of curiosity and they have gone the extra mile.
Besides the usual musical interludes that accompany rugby matches these days, they also piped crowd noise over the ground's speakers.
Not only that, they managed to synchronise it with the action, which certainly added an extra dimension to the coverage.

My football season ticket is about to be refunded. It did make me wonder whether they should be providing me with a video stream and a mic to broadcast around the ground. No idea if they can manage that many connections, but it might create a good atmosphere. Don't think singing would work as no one would be able to initialise it.

gweeds

June 17th for the Premier League, so they're saying...

blazing_saddles

gweeds said:

June 17th for the Premier League, so they're saying...

3 days later and the Italians kick off as well.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Pro sport behind closed doors in England allowed from Monday 1st June.

RichN95.

From a cycling perspective is worth remembering that we are looking at this through British eyes. The countries where cycling takes place are doing so much better than us.

gweeds

Apart from the USA and Brazil it's hard to think of people doing worse. It's almost like the three countries have absolutely shit leadership.

kingstongraham

gweeds said:

Apart from the USA and Brazil it's hard to think of people doing worse. It's almost like the three countries have absolutely censored leadership.

Putin: I'll be right on it.

blazing_saddles

F1 returns in Austria, July 5th.
England vs West Indies 1st test, Southampton July 8th.

blazing_saddles

Another reason for some optimism over the new cycling season getting underway on time, with Italy having reopened its borders and ended travel restrictions between regions. Travellers from most European countries will be allowed into Italy from Wednesday, with no quarantine.

fenix

Etape cancelled for this year. Not sure if this bodes well for the tour.

kingstongraham

Not too relevant I'd think.

fenix

By comparison to replanning the tour - the etape should have been a doddle. Route was sorted and they only needed to find a date that the local government and authorities could agree on ?

Or am I missing something ?

kingstongraham

Having 10,000 riders coming together as opposed to 200 plus support (for both). It's so different, each has entirely different challenges.

RichN95.

fenix said:

By comparison to replanning the tour - the etape should have been a doddle. Route was sorted and they only needed to find a date that the local government and authorities could agree on ?

Or am I missing something ?

10000 riders. None will be tested. They come from all around Europe and from further away, if they can even get there. Hotels can't be controlled and need to be fully staffed. Then they go back to where they came from.

The Tour - around 500-600 people staying in a controlled bubble for three weeks. Full testing in the run up. Most in France with their teams for a week before they race. Minimum hotel staff needed (just someone to open the door really).

blazing_saddles

The website says that this year had 16,000 registered participants, so it's an even bigger logistical nightmare.
Methinks given our friend's track record on this subject, it's not so much about L'Etape being cancelled as the Tour probably being given the green light.

fenix

I'm just sceptical of any big events happening this year and the tour is big and complex.

There's over 600 with just the teams.
250 security with the race.
29,000 security people along the route.
1800 press work on the tour.

Even if you bin the caravan (600people) then there's still over 2000 people traveling each day. For three weeks.

Let's hope the French do better than us at defeating the virus anyway. That's the only chance of it going ahead.

God knows when our UK strategy will start to pay off.

takethehighroad

https://thetotallyfootballshow.com/from-the-podcasts/frustration-grows-at-early-curtailment-of-ligue-1-was-it-down-to-marseille-fan-macron/

Interesting theory that Macron called the season off to ensure his Marseille were guaranteed Champions League next season

shinyhelmut

fenix said:

God knows when our UK strategy will start to pay off.

There’s a strategy?

RichN95.

fenix said:

God knows when our UK strategy will start to pay off.

It already is. The calls for Cummings to resign are down considerably compared to a week ago.

Dorset_Boy

blazing_saddles said:

The website says that this year had 16,000 registered participants, so it's an even bigger logistical nightmare.
Methinks given our friend's track record on this subject, it's not so much about L'Etape being cancelled as the Tour probably being given the green light.

Correct, the Etape is 16,000 entrants, and last year over 15,000 took to the start line. Around 12,000 finished. All needing to descend on Nice, from around the world, trying to find flights and accommodation.
The cancellation of the Etape has no bearing on running the Tour itself.

blazing_saddles

fenix said:

I'm just sceptical of any big events happening this year and the tour is big and complex.

There's over 600 with just the teams.
250 security with the race.
29,000 security people along the route.
1800 press work on the tour.

Even if you bin the caravan (600people) then there's still over 2000 people traveling each day. For three weeks.

Let's hope the French do better than us at defeating the virus anyway. That's the only chance of it going ahead.

God knows when our UK strategy will start to pay off.

The caravan will be binned and the media will consist of the host broadcaster on site, plus a handful of reporters. As we have seen on tv these past 3 months, they don't need to be there and have adapted to the situation.
The 29,000 security people you mention are spread out, not just along, but all over the entire 3500kms of the race route, usually either solitary or in pairs of gendarmes.

Contrast these numbers with L'Etape, or worse, the +80,000 at the London Marathon, which you had hoped would go ahead in October....

Cargobike

This time last year I'd be up to my ears in one sport, or another. Anything on two wheels, so cycling, motogp, superbikes, plus football, cricket, even a bit of egg chasing, but tbh I couldn't care less about pro sport these days, there's far more important things to worry about than gawping at overpaid egomaniacs with too much entitlement, yet only half the talent they actually think they have.

I've got an 82 year old mother who is self shielding along with a cancer surviving sister who is also living through C19 in isolation. Personally, I want to see an end to C19, not a bunch of overpaid mercenaries swanning around trying to convince us that normality is returning.

The filthy luchre of money is guiding our decisions against a disease that we still have too little knowledge of and even if we socially distance effectively there are no guarantees that we are doing the right thing by trying to re-start sport whether amateur or professional.

I'd have thought the best thing to do is to just take a year out, keeping all those in harms way as isolated and safe as possible and then look to resume when we actually have either a vaccine or the ability to tame the affects of C19 when new outbreaks take hold.

Instead, we seem hell bent on re-opening society and it's norms far too quickly, as if football, cricket and rugby etc will save us from our own stupidity as we look to save the plight of our overpaid athletes.

Have we learned nothing? Still holding major sporting events prior to the lockdown as the country rapidly exposed itself to the ravages of C19. While some sports can be played behind closed doors i.e. football and cricket, how on earth do they reckon you can hold the TdF without millions of supporters coming to line the route of the race as they have done every year.

Just look at the morons last weekend who thought travelling to the coast, or National Parks was acceptable. Just because the TdF is not in the UK doesn't mean there are any less idiots in France or the rest of Europe.

Let's stop this madness for the sake of everyone that we hold dear and realise that so far all we have done is won the first battle, not the war. C19 is here to stay until we either have a vaccine, it runs through the population, or mutates into something we can actually treat now.

It isn't going to hurt the pro-athlete from whatever sport to lose a years earnings, but taking C19 as lightly as we are is going to cost the country and the global economy far, far more over time, both financially and more importantly physically and mentally.

Best case scenario, the economy tanks for a few years. It happens every decade or two anyway. Worst case, we'll be piling the bodies up throughout the winter, but be able to fondly look back that Liverpool won the League!

Perhaps I've got it all wrong, but there are many in the scientific community who are expressing that we are rushing ahead far too quickly. I know who I'd rather trust over the politicians around the world.

Is it really too much to ask to give it a bit more time and thought?

fenix

There no way the London Marathon will happen this year now.

I can't see any mass events in the UK. Even parkrun.

Cargobike

Parkrun?

They were "dogging" in my local park last night as I cycled through!

blazing_saddles

Cargobike said:

Parkrun?

They were "dogging" in my local park last night as I cycled through!

All our parks have been closed these past 10 weeks and there is still no sign of them opening any time soon.

Anyhow, after reading your post above, I am glad to see that you confident enough to venture outside!

Not sure that pro sport being played behind closed doors etc are anything to worry about when the current protests look like this.

Cargobike

Don't really have a choice in going outside.

I'm classed as a key worker, so have worked literally every day through the lockdown, on my own and as socially distanced as it's possible to be.

Someone has to keep the economy ticking over while all the numpties enjoy their furlough