English football, or rather the whole country, is being hit by the new Corona variant Omikron these days. Several matches have already been cancelled and postponed during the week and this weekend. Now there will be a meeting. How drastic will the decisions be in the end?
At the beginning of December, the 15th matchday of the Premier League was completely over. After that, however, Corona struck full force in many of the 20 teams, so that initially in the 16th round the match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur had been postponed. Since then, three more scheduled duels were cancelled on matchday 17, before only four of the ten matches actually took place this weekend on the 18th.
What will happen now, so close to Christmas? That will probably be decided on Monday evening when the heads of the league and the bosses of the clubs sit down, discuss and make decisions about the near future. “Christmas in danger?”, the tabloid “Daily Mail” asked on its website on Sunday in view of the threatening situation in the entire country. Traditionally, football is played in England on 26 December.
Will even the famous Boxing Day, the annual action around the holidays, have to be cancelled?
“If a player is not vaccinated at all, he is a constant threat to us all “
One thing is clear: the new Omikron variant has already had an impact on sport, for example at Chelsea FC. The third-placed team in the table was without seven professionals on Sunday and could not get beyond a 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers. A possible postponement of the match had earlier Premier League. “It’s hard to understand. I thought we had a strong argument with the safety and health of the players,” a disappointed CFC coach Thomas Tuchel already complained in this regard.
The vaccination rate among Premier League professionals is nowhere near as high as in other European leagues, with a full 31 per cent still unprotected against the virus as of last month. Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp made it clear before Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur that vaccination would be a factor for him in future transfers.
“If a player is not vaccinated at all, he is a constant threat for all of us,” the former BVB coach said, according to British media, including the Guardian. “He doesn’t want to be a threat. (…) But he is one.” That’s why it would be very complicated to organise the procedures. The 54-year-old did not confirm any ongoing transfer negotiations, but said he had thought about the Corona issue. “And yes, it would definitely have an impact.” Liverpool FC had reported three players with positive Corona tests last Thursday morning despite a very high vaccination rate.
10,059 new Omicron cases.
Covid 19 Omicron virus.
On Saturday alone, 10,059 new Omicron cases had been reported in the UK – three times as many as the day before. Omikron is now the dominant viral variant, accounting for around 60 per cent of cases in England. Omikron is also already dominant in Scotland. Scientific advisors are calling for tighter measures as soon as possible to prevent the health system from being overburdened. The German government has declared the UK a virus variant area, drastically restricting entry from the country from Monday.
So it is quite possible that drastic measures will be decided by the bosses on Monday.
