Your Daily Question, Wednesday 22nd April. Time for sport to be allowed to resume?

Tikay10

Many sporting bodies in the UK are clamouring for their sport to be allowed to resume behind closed doors. This especially applies to horse racing.

Most of us very much miss "live" sport & with us all stuck at home, it would certainly be a welcome diversion.

Same with football.

There's a problem though, in that ambulances, doctors & trained medical staff are required to be in attendance, diverting critical resource away from where it's most needed.

So, should horse racing &/or football be allowed to resume now, behind closed doors, & why (or why not)?

mumsie

Today's question looks like a basic yes/no scenario.

When doctors, nurses and medics get a mention I realise how pointless these sports are.

Its a100% no from me, until pleasanter times resume.

kapowblamz

Coronavirus has pushed me towards stock trading. I'm not sure I'll ever bet as much as I did beforehand because my roll will be tied up in stocks! I also learnt that cfd's are just spread betting with vig baked in and a nightly fee so am avoiding that and will buy shares directly.

Currently trying to find the best value on all of these stocks that have lost like 90% of their stock value. If anyone has any ideas then do tell. I have a big lump on CZR, small lump on MGM, and I'm trying to exploit bitcoins volatility without any joy so far because it ain't moving. Debating FB too but I can't pull the trigger.
Every share price looks like value atm.

To the question at hand: I think sports should resume when the scientists say so and that's the end of the story.

Jac35

No

safc71

I'am so missing the horse racing and the football but now is not the time to resume.

Glenelg

Missing the gee gees like crazy, but think its prob too early. Foreign racing is costing me money.
Especially as skbet only pay best odds on uk & irish racing.

Cammykaze

Sport is a distraction and at times not a good one.

This is time for families/friends/communities to band together while talking to neighbours, people in need and the elderly. Throw in exercise as well.

It's time for us all to look out for people worse off than ourselves.

Sport can be a selfish couch spectating activity involving gambling and alcohol while being lonely. No rush!

MISTY4ME

Horse Racing I'd love to see resume but behind closed doors after the latest lockdown, so May 9th. There is a need for this with the approximate 80.000 people working or associated to the Industry and Breeding in Great Britain and Ireland, not counting the people at home who make a living from betting/trading on it. It was proved in Ireland during the week before the shutdown, that it could be run behind closed doors, (it would be like Newmarket on a normal raceday ), and with the FLAT, there is a far less likelier risk of injury to jockeys.
With football, definitely not yet .........and behind closed doors?? hmmmmmm.... I'll pass on that one, though it would be great to hear just what the Managers and Coaches are shouting at their players

Most TOP clubs have their own Doctors and some trained Medical Staff too

TheEdge949

Do I want to see sport return quickly ? Absolutely.

Is now the right time? Absolutely Not.

stokefc

It doesn't need to be thought of at this moment in time
Definitely no
I shouldn't have to explain why either it's just common sense

MattBates

Tikay10 said:

Many sporting bodies in the UK are clamouring for their sport to be allowed to resume behind closed doors. This especially applies to horse racing.

Most of us very much miss "live" sport & with us all stuck at home, it would certainly be a welcome diversion.

Same with football.

There's a problem though, in that ambulances, doctors & trained medical staff are required to be in attendance, diverting critical resource away from where it's most needed.

So, should horse racing &/or football be allowed to resume now, behind closed doors, & why (or why not)?

Its a no from me because of this. Also, how do we know its safe for the coaches/players etc?

Enut

No. For the reasons already given.

I know football is pretty much a non contact sport now but there has to be some danger to the players surely and social distancing for everyone else involved in the sport would surely be difficult.

When this all started I thought one bright spot would be that I would be able to disappear off and do some fishing but sadly that is not allowed either, despite the fact that I know lakes where you would be literally miles from the next person. But rules are rules.

Phantom66

Enut said:

No. For the reasons already given.

I know football is pretty much a non contact sport now but there has to be some danger to the players surely and social distancing for everyone else involved in the sport would surely be difficult.

When this all started I thought one bright spot would be that I would be able to disappear off and do some fishing but sadly that is not allowed either, despite the fact that I know lakes where you would be literally miles from the next person. But rules are rules.

Have you not stocked the lakes in your back garden?

lucy4

Why do sporting bodies think they are above the current social distancing rules? Lets take football for an example,each side has 11 players,6 subs,1 manager as a basic starting point,add to that coaches,backroom staff,medical staff,owners etc and the number soon rises lets call it 50 people per team,double that number to include the away team.That's 100 people in close contact for a minimum of 2 hours,yet the public are told they can't visit family or have any social interaction with anyone outside of their household.If I was to hold a family get together such as a BBQ on my own premises,I would expect to be reported and await a visit from the Police to shut the gathering down.When I go shopping I have too queue outside the shop as the rules are only allowing a set number of shoppers in at one time,then once in to keep a 2 metre distance from fellow shoppers.For football to resume would they agree to play 5 a-side on a full size pitch,with no tackling,no marking,no free kick walls & to keep a 2 metre distance at all times from team mates and opponents? All of this done whilst travelling the length and breadth of the country,which again the general public are banned from doing at this time.This football season should be declared null & void ASAP and concentrate on working out next seasons schedules.

madprof

Glenelg said:

Missing the gee gees like crazy, but think its prob too early. Foreign racing is costing me money.
Especially as skbet only pay best odds on uk & irish racing.

I can’t stand the bee gees...alll that jive talking?!....no to any sport till, medics says so

EvilPingu

Tikay10 said:

There's a problem though, in that ambulances, doctors & trained medical staff are required to be in attendance, diverting critical resource away from where it's most needed.

Addressing football specifically in this post:

You wouldn't need anywhere near the same amount of ambulances/doctors etc at the ground when there's no fans - Medical personnel are there to assist fans too. With closed stadiums and the current climate you could definitely get away with 1 ambulance and suspending the game until the ambulance returns if a player needs to go to hospital.

If you slow the spread of the virus by even a tiny amount as a result of football restarting (fewer people go outside for non-essential reasons during our lenient 'lockdown') or you help reduce the need for mental health services because football can provide a welcome distraction from the current situation, then you're going to make up for any 'wasted' resources at football grounds very quickly indeed.

You'd have to frequently test all of the players, plus presumably anyone working around the teams/players. IMO that's the biggest limiting factor right now for when football can resume, rather than availability of ambulances/paramedics. If you test a squad of 30 players and a reduced staff every week, plus referees, stadium security, TV crews etc, you're going to be testing a couple of hundred people per game, and I'm probably still underestimating there. We can't afford to do that right now.

For that reason, it's a no for me. However, that could change with increased availability of testing. Maybe if we ever hit that 100k tests/day target...

EvilPingu

lucy4 said:

Why do sporting bodies think they are above the current social distancing rules?

Because plans to resume sporting events revolve around testing and potentially quarantining. Major League Baseball were recently discussing quarantining all 30 teams in hotels in Arizona and playing their entire regular season there last I heard.

If you can test everyone you're coming into contact with, and make sure you don't come into anyone from outside of that group, there's no need for social distancing once you know everyone is negative.

Essexphil

Needs to be assessed sport by sport.

Team contact sports (football, rugby etc) are the last to be brought back.

But SOME sports could be brought back next month without undue risk.

Enut

Phantom66 said:

Enut said:

No. For the reasons already given.

I know football is pretty much a non contact sport now but there has to be some danger to the players surely and social distancing for everyone else involved in the sport would surely be difficult.

When this all started I thought one bright spot would be that I would be able to disappear off and do some fishing but sadly that is not allowed either, despite the fact that I know lakes where you would be literally miles from the next person. But rules are rules.

Have you not stocked the lakes in your back garden?

I have stocked them and they contain some of our oldest pets, 'Jaws' for example (named by my step daughter when she was 3) must be 25 years old. I wouldn't dream of fishing for them, at this stage..... give it another 6 months though and I couldn't promise anything!

Enut

Back on topic surely amongst the first sports that could cope with social distancing etc would be golf and tennis (singles). Team sports would be quite a way down the list.

mumsie

Enut said:

Back on topic surely amongst the first sports that could cope with social distancing etc would be golf and tennis (singles). Team sports would be quite a way down the list.

Shooting, Orienteering and Surfing could make early comebacks.