UK Edition
Unfortunately, the show cannot go on. Football in this country has to stop after it was confirmed that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Premier League players at another club have been tested after showing symptoms. Within hours of the story breaking on the Telegraph Sport website, it was announced that three players at another club, Leicester City, had been placed in self-isolation. Then later came the confirmation on Arteta which makes a shutdown inevitable.
While this was happening, La Liga in Spain shut down, following the example set by other European countries, and then Holland followed suit. By the afternoon, Major League Soccer in the United States had suspended games for 30 days in the face of what the World Health Organisation has already declared a pandemic. And that is without including other sports that are shutting down. It is inevitable that the Premier League, and therefore the English Football League, will be suspended and that is expected to happen on Friday. It has to. Everyone knows it. So, just do it.
Surely, the way things have developed this week shows that, unfortunately, it is time to be proactive, not reactive.
Earlier this week, I wrote a column arguing that the game should try to carry on for as long as possible, even if that meant playing matches behind closed doors, because it was important to do so; football was part of the fabric of society and a distraction to help us through these confusing times.
That argument was qualified by saying that when a player tested positive we could not continue and a suspension should take place. Given how the crisis has escalated and how sport has reacted – other leagues in particular – it would be perverse for this country to carry on regardless.
Italy tried to play games behind closed doors but that proved unworkable and was quickly abandoned. It feels the right step to suspend the league, at least for two weeks, which would give the authorities and administrators time to consider the best course of action.
If a Premier League player were to test positive and games continued that would just appear irresponsible. What of the teams he had faced previously?
It also leaves the Premier League, in particular, open to the accusation that it is putting the interests of fulfilling its contracts – especially those multi-billion pound ones with global broadcasters – ahead of serving the public interest.
It will argue otherwise but the suspicion will be there until it behaves differently. It already feels that there may be a hope that the league programme can continue into the international break, which might prove to be a natural barrier. If that is true, it needs to be reassessed immediately.
The authorities tried to act in the right way with a stepped plan rather than a disproportionate, knee-jerk response but this is an extraordinarily fast-moving issue and we do not want to be left behind when it comes to working out who acted responsibly. We want to be on the right side of history.
If football were to be suspended, no one knows how events would pan out, whether the season would be completed. But the bigger picture is far more important and sacrifices have to be made, even temporarily while the authorities get a grip on how best to proceed.
In fairness to the Premier League, EFL and Football Association, immediate government intervention is probably needed to give them the authority to proceed and to lift the immense pressure on them. In this case, it is probably best that the decision is taken out of football’s hands, because this is far bigger than the sport. Once that has happened there will be a sense of relief, while sensible measures can be worked out and implemented.
No one is going to thank football for carrying on, but they might just be relieved if it stops.
After Mikel Arteta's news, football in England has to stop - the show cannot go on