COVID-19 In Scottish Football

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

9 minutes ago, SJP79 said:

5 months of bad press then this, i bet Sky TV are delighted with thier investment 

Karma for employing John Hartson

[Skyline Drifter]

21 minutes ago, Jimmy Shaker said:

For League fixtures? Highly unlikely given the cost. I dare say Brora have been told they'll have to ahead of playing in the League Cup but may have been compensated with help with testing in lieu of playoffs at the end of last season. 

The fact they are guaranteed a minimum of £18k in prize money from it will be a factor I guess. Although that may barely cover the testing depending how many players they have in the squad.

[Huisdean50]

Since when has Scottish football been the prime driver of this virus as the Government appears to want us to believe. 

The Aberdeen players made a mistake going to the bar but was this a malicious act or has it been proven that this has spread the virus in Aberdeen. It is safe to assume that the 4 household rule is frequently broken in pubs or, as someone a few doors up from me, who decided to have a party on Saturday with over 20 people did as well. Much more chance of these people spreading the virus than the Aberdeen players. 

With regard to the Celtic incident, this is possibly the more serious of the two incidents. Again however, aren't the Government meant to do checks on the people who should be self isolating after returning from these countries but hey, let's not look at any Government failings when football can be the whipping boy. Opening up the pubs has caused the current problems with the virus, not football. 

[Dawson Park Boy]

23 minutes ago, The Marly said:

7 hours ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

There’s no doubt the players broke the rules but maybe it’s time we took a look at the policy.
Its completely nonsensical.
Here in Scotland there have been no deaths for a few weeks and for anyone up to around 60 who’s in reasonable shape, you’ve as much chance of dying from COVID as being struck by lightning.
As this goes on, extra deaths from people not getting proper NHS treatment are piling up, cancers not being diagnosed, heart disease being ignored, you name it.
We also see unemployment ratcheting up, poverty increasing, education being lost, the population being muzzled,the whole fabric of society being destroyed for what????
Im probably in a minority of one but I fail to see the logic in this.
Sturgeon keeps banging on about eliminating the virus but the best that can be hoped for is containment and learning to live with it.
This current policy is madness and will do nothing other can condemn thousands to the scrap heap, destroy our liberties through needless muzzling , ruin society and increase illness and disease of the non COVID variety.

You do understand healthy people under 60 could spread the virus to vulnerable people under 60 or people over 60 who have a very good chance of dying?

I do indeed.

Thats the chance well just need to take.

[LincolnHearts]

40 minutes ago, paranoid android said:

Have the SPFL or SFA actually said or done anything about these aberdeen/celtic incidents?

[craigkillie]

2 hours ago, Raidernation said:

Having had time to think about this away from my initial knee-heartsfan, sorry, knee-jerk reaction that the “Aberdeen 8” need to be hung, drawn and quartered, I know have the following to offer.

Major league sports in the US are either being played in a “bubble” (NBA/NHL/MLS) or having the exact same issues as football here (MLB).

Talk is now about delaying the NFL until spring. This after allowing players to make a personal decision on whether or not to play this season and accept a reduced pay.

College sports (big, big business, often outsell the pros.) are slowly all coming round to the idea of delayed/cancelled seasons.

It’s time the SPFL and clubs take it on the chin and realise it’s time to either delay the season for several weeks/months or just abandon it now and plan for a “mini league” starting in February (or sometime).

I accept that, financially, this will likely cause severe hardship for clubs and probably result in some going to the wall, but I really can’t see a workable way to keep the season going short of:-

Teams will be “sequestered” at a “central hub” and games played at 2 or 3 fixed locations that are kept quarantined. Won’t need to be big stadia with no support present so they could, for example, use an existing sport complex/training ground/university.

 

This is not America where the virus is running wild, it is more or less under control here and there is no need to go to any such extremes. We could just follow the approach of every other non-basket case country who are actually trying to stop coronavirus, which is basically to do exactly what we're doing.

There has not been any actual problem with the approach we've followed so far, the only problems have come from a handful of players not following the rules.

In total I think there have been 4 actual positive cases in the two months or so since the clubs returned to training. One was an Aberdeen player right at the start, one was a St Mirren coach a couple of weeks ago and then other two were the recent Aberdeen guys. Some American sports teams have been getting more cases than that in a single day.

Edited August 11, 2020 by craigkillie

[craigkillie]

Have the SPFL or SFA actually said or done anything about these aberdeen/celtic incidents?

Yes, they've released statements about both, condemning the players involved and reminding other players of their responsibilities. I'd definitely like to see the players fined and banned, but that'll depend whether it's allowed within the rules.

[Hedgecutter]

The absolute meltdown if they didn't ban Scottish football but simply banned Celtic and Aberdeen from participating.

[Staggie52]

The postponement of games wasn’t a punishment, it was a warning. Get your clubs sorted and keep players in line or the league is postponed. There is also a message about fans getting back in, sort it or they stay out. Pretty simple really.

 

[LincolnHearts]

Watching this whole shit-show unfold is glorious.

Every time I think our national game (and those who run it) can't out-tinpot itself, they always find a way.

[falkirkthebigclub]

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

So St Mirren, St. Johnstone and Hamilton have, according to your rationale, received the same punishment despite being blameless.

f**k off.

As previously stated, this is merely my interpretation of today's events.

So, you f**k off.

c**t.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

12 minutes ago, Staggie52 said:

The postponement of games wasn’t a punishment, it was a warning. Get your clubs sorted and keep players in line or the league is postponed. There is also a message about fans getting back in, sort it or they stay out. Pretty simple really.

 

It is supposed to be about public health. But the is it clearly a punishment and the postponements not based on any scientific reasoning.

It is basically a PR stunt.

[Staggie52]

Just now, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

It is supposed to be about public health. But the is it clearly a punishment and the postponements not based on any scientific reasoning.

It is basically a PR stunt.

It is about public health. Football has been given a special disposition for a non-essential business to ignore social distancing if they stick to agreed protocols. They’ve been warned that if they don’t take it seriously then they won’t be given the disposition. Social distancing is there to protect the population, not keeping to the protocols is therefore a risk to public health.

[craigkillie]

It is about public health. Football has been given a special disposition for a non-essential business to ignore social distancing if they stick to agreed protocols. They’ve been warned that if they don’t take it seriously then they won’t be given the disposition. Social distancing is there to protect the population, not keeping to the protocols is therefore a risk to public health.

What public health benefit is there for calling off Celtic v Aberdeen next week by which point Aberdeen's non-isolating players will likely have had 4 negative tests since their teammates breaches and most likely no Celtic player will have tested positive at all?

[Arch Stanton]

34 minutes ago, badgerthewitness said:

As previously stated, this is merely my interpretation of today's events.

So, you f**k off.

c**t.

Your interpretation is a steaming pile of shite you fucking c**t.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

Mark Wilson live on Radio Clyde just blamed ‘the foreigners’ in Celtic’s dressing room for what happened today because they bring their own friends with them.

You honestly couldn’t make it up. What a shameful comment.

[falkirkthebigclub]

3 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

Your interpretation is a steaming pile of shite you fucking c**t.

Your maw's a steaming pile of shite.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

26 minutes ago, Staggie52 said:

It is about public health. Football has been given a special disposition for a non-essential business to ignore social distancing if they stick to agreed protocols. They’ve been warned that if they don’t take it seriously then they won’t be given the disposition. Social distancing is there to protect the population, not keeping to the protocols is therefore a risk to public health.

Except there is a scientific way of seeing if there is transmission. The incident took place a week ago. Bolangoli will have undergone multiple tests and has not got Coronavirus.

Despite him being a complete idiot playing football matches has exactly the same risk if he didn't go to Spain. So from a public health pov there is no need to postpone games.

If the Scottish Govt wants to tell the SFA/SPFL to get rules in order and make there are consequences for breaching social distancing rule then fair enough but cancelling football matches is not being done for protection and the facts are there to back it up.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Here is the science.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/here-s-how-long-it-takes-to-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-exposure/ar-BB14SvmO

coronavirus can be asymptomatic, but in people who have the virus it may take up to 5 days to be detectable via test without symptoms. With a negative test you can be sure you didn't have Corona 5 days ago. So it is almost certain that when Bolangoli passed his coronavirus test for the killie game on Sunday he had not contracted the virus on his jaunt to Spain from Tuesday.

Obviously community transmission is still an issue but that is why clubs are performing continuous testing and social distancing measure when training/travelling/playing.

Postponing games is unscientific bullshit.

[MuckleMoo]

Might be completely wrong in this but I don't think the issue here is whether the players involved have put the general public at risk in spreading the virus. Neither is it a case of making an example of them although it may be the case that there is an element of this from the SG

The simple fact is that all those involved are required to take extra precautions and stick to them religiously in order to stop the virus getting a foothold within the game. If it does so then the season is well and truly fucked!