A few weeks ago, imagining the suspension of all football activity in Switzerland would not fail to provoke an understandable outcry. No doubt we would have even cried scandal, estimating such eagerness in total offset with the reality of then. The Covid-19 still seemed far away, foreign to our lives. At the time, remember, we praised the great course of FC St. Gallen, we were worried about FC Sion, we were already looking forward to finding Lausanne-Sport in the Super League. Or it was fun to argue about an arbitration decision when others cursed VAR.
The emotion of sport, the only thrills of the game still guided our shared passions. Whether in the professional world or among amateurs.
But everything has changed since then, and every day more: contaminated in its turn by the coronavirus, the whole of Switzerland has fallen into fear. The fear of the unknown at the same time as the health emergency required that it drastically change our habits, making sport itself incidental because it became superfluous.
Also the leaders of the Swiss Football Association, in the wake of the drastic measures taken by the Federal Council, they took the only decision that was necessary and that some, for 72 hours and the acceleration of the pandemic , were calling for their wishes. As of now, we are no longer going to play football in our country as far as amateurs are concerned, whether it be in the juniors, in the 5th league or up to the Promotion League. So much the game, distorted compared to the real priorities of this spring, has lost its meaning. As the players themselves can no longer hide the diffuse fear of sharing the same dressing room. Both the desire and the heart, quite logically, are no longer there, as fear has replaced joy, with a feeling of legitimate fear that is found in an overwhelming majority of parents.
Because the importance of a victory or the consequences of a defeat is effaced by the gravity of the situation, one can only “applaud” such a decision which will impact thousands of players in regional football.
At about the same time, officials of the Swiss Football League decided to extend the suspension of the professional championships until April 30. At the origin of this report: the recommendation of experts from the OFSP and epidemiologists, who believe that football poses an increased risk of contamination. This would imply, if we wanted to be consistent and above all responsible, to now stop training (which is already the case for FC Lugano).
So difficult to admit, a natural truth imposes itself: no one has a head in football today, and it would be good for the circles concerned to realize this. When it comes to life and death for the most vulnerable in society, there is no need to procrastinate or flee from reality.
Monday in Bern, the League and the clubs will have to decide a choice after all quite simple: make the round back – or the ostrich – hoping that the peak of intensity passes, in the hope of an ever more hypothetical recovery of championships; or, in an increasingly realistic scenario if not hoped, to whistle the final cessation of competitions, like the option chosen by hockey players, regardless of its sporting or economic consequences.
Because yes, let there be no mistake, there will be breakage, with the risk, ultimately, of possible bankruptcies if the championship could not resume. Because yes, clubs will be able to find themselves more injured than others if the championship could not resume. But faced with an event of force majeure, never experienced in more than a century at the sanitary level, claiming a title or promotion seems almost indecent. If Euro 2020 were to be postponed for a year, which we will not know until Tuesday, we could certainly still imagine tinkering – and some are already working on it – an end of season spanning from the end of April to the end June but such an arrangement does not seem very reasonable in view of the state of crisis which has affected the whole country.
Especially as for everything concerning the impacts of a shutdown, solutions exist. Among people of good faith, it must be possible to find intelligent parades in order to ensure respect for sports equity. By playing for example twelve teams in the Super League from the next school year. Rather than showing its divisions, Swiss football must show its unity at each level of the pyramid. The same goes for its credibility as it does for its future.
Created: 13.03.2020, 21h12
–
