THE coronavirus pandemic has already disrupted world sport.
The Italian’s top tier football league, the Series A has been called off, The ATP Tour (men’s pro tennis league) has been called off for six weeks, The NBA has suspended its season and Europe’s other major football leagues and tournaments are being played behind ‘closed doors’.
In rugby, Italy’s Six Nations fixture against the leader, England was postponed last week.
The Pro14 has been suspended indefinitely and this leaves the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings without rugby for a while and the resumption of the 2019-20 season will now become a matter of constant review as there is no telling when the virus threat will end.
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The PRO14 has teams from UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa, and with the high death toll in overseas countries, it’s the right decision to make.
In Super Rugby, we’ve already seen the Sunwolves’ fixtures being moved away from Japan to Australia and latest reports say the Jaguares’ round 7 fixture against the Highlanders will be played behind ‘closed doors’. The Argentinean government announced that for the next 30 days there is to be no spectator presence at any sporting events due to the pandemic.
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On the HSBC seven’s series, the tour should be heading to Hong Kong and Singapore. Both tournaments have been moved to October due to the pandemic scare and it leaves an unexpected gap in the season for all teams involved.
This could also have an effect on the players’ preparation for the Olympic Games in June.
The sporting world is waiting to see if the Olympics committee will cancel this or not.
A long lay-off from the sport, especially without training, could affect the competitive edge of all tournaments. Rugby aside, this is a world health issue, so should all rugby tournaments and league fixtures be suspended?
The panel:
East Coast Radio Sports presenter, Sky Tshabalala, has his say:
Sky: it will be a wise decision if they suspend Super Rugby. We have it with the Pro14, that’s been suspended due to the coronavirus. It’s not about the rugby now, this is becoming a problem for rugby fans attending the stadium and obviously the risk of getting more infections with big crowds attending games. Other sporting codes have taken very drastic measures in terms of postponing games or suspending them until further notice. I think it’s in the players, staff and fans’ interest for the powers that be to make a decision about the virus. Personally, I’m not a fan of games being played behind closed doors, it’s either you play in front of fans or you suspend or postpone the tournament until further notice. I do believe Super Rugby should take precautions because this virus is bigger than sports.
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