The Premier League is determined to finish the 2019-20 season, but will do so only if a safe situation can come to fruition. Mid-June has been set as a target, with matches to be played behind closed doors in neutral venues. There are a lot of ifs standing in the way of making this happen, and the widespread availability of coronavirus testing is paramount.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, conveying proper perspective and acknowledgment of where football resides in the societal pecking order, says health workers should be prioritized when it comes to COVID-19 testing.
Lampard believes the healthcare industry workers on the front lines of the war against this virus should get access to testing over professional athletes.
It’s very hard to disagree with the comments he made in an interview with BT Sport.
“The health and safety of players and staff is huge,” he said.
“We play a contact sport we’re all desperate to see — it’s a form of escapism, to watch football, play and train — but how are we not going to put the players at risk within that?”
“The other issue is testing. We will probably have a minimum of 70 or 80 staff at Cobham [training ground] if we’re going to restart training. It’s right that we test regularly, but when we’re looking around the world… I think it’s important for football to take its place.”
"When we look around the world, it doesn't sit well with me if people on the frontline aren't getting tested."
Frank Lampard is open to football resuming but if testing 70/80 at the training ground takes away from those in need he wouldn't be too keen…#EarlyKickOff pic.twitter.com/YRCevImTfE
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 2, 2020
“I don’t know the testing numbers for National Health Service [NHS] and care workers, people who are doing these incredible jobs over the last two months. I don’t think it would sit well, not just with me, but with anybody, if we didn’t make sure that people who are in that frontline are getting tested.”
Lampard is right- it’s a contact sport, where social distancing is impossible, so basically anything and everything has to go right in order for the potential plan to actually move forward. It was a Chelsea player, winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was the first Premier Leaguer to test positive for the virus.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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