How the Covid-19 pandemic has taken the fun out of sports and contributed to the economic crisis…
BY JOSHUA GEORGE
THE Covid-19 pandemic in its second year now has disrupted all sporting activities globally. Most major national and international tournaments have been either postponed or cancelled. This includes several leading national and State-level football tournaments. The pandemic has created an economic crisis in the sporting industry across the globe. We’ve seen European football giants FC Barcelona tabling a debt of $1.57 billion. Rewind the clock to 2019, that is before the start of this unprecedented horror, when the sporting industry was on an upward trajectory with major international tournaments lined up to take place as scheduled.
In India, the cash-rich IPL has seen a drastic change in its economic structure. The IPL is one of the most keenly awaited events in the country. The league has been no alien to the crisis and has also felt the heat of the changing variants of the corona virus. The 2020 and 2021 editions have had a far from a smooth organisation in terms of logistics with both editions playing in the United Arab Emirates behind closed doors, with the later stages of the tournament of the 2021 edition open only to a partial audience.
The other popular sports which have been badly hit are hockey basketball, tennis, badminton. Even in exceptional cases where rich organizing bodies like the Board of Cricket Control in India and the All India Football Federation have had to organize their iconic tournaments without an audience. Covid has added a new word to the dictionary of sport that is “biosphere.”
SAFE BIOSPHERE
THE biosphere is a bubble that guarantees a safe and secure environment not only for the players but also for the match officials and everyone involved with the game being played. This has created a shield between audience and players
This invisible shield has changed the dynamics of sports. The bio bubble does not limit itself to the pitch and field. Individuals have to be regularly tested for Covid-19. Every time a player or official leaves the confined space which is normally an isolated part of a hotel, they need to ensure that their respective temperature is within the prescribed limits while also having the oxygen levels checked with an oximeter. Moreover periodically blood samples are sent to check whether the players and their support staff in the hotel display symptoms of any covid variant. It is a tiresome and complicated protocol, so much so that athletes, officials and media personnel, find themselves touching levels of demoralisation stressful situations.
Recently, experts of the Cricket Australia medical team highlighted that stress associated with strict bio bubble has had a snowballing effect on players. The high levels of resilience that athletes are often lauded for are being challenged, with many of them having to adapt and develop new ways of coping to maintain their mental health and wellbeing
Players have expressed their discontentment with the Covid-19 protocol and have often sought the cancellation of the hard quarantine which comprises a 14-day isolation period in the hotel. The toll on mental health has a direct bearing on the athlete’s performance. This has been dramatized by sharp variations in performance of star players.
BIO BUBBLE STRESS
IT MAY be argued that the Indian cricket team’s dismal performance at the recently concluded t20 world cup was due to bio bubble stress caused by months in isolation. The Indian team first travelled to England to faceoff in a 5-match test series that compromised more than two months of restricted movement. This was followed by the IPL in the UAE which finally culminated with the t20 World Cup. The already existent external pressure that comes from a cricket fanatic country was most definitely a cumulative factor, along with the isolation stress bubble that could have resulted in shoddy performance.
The pandemic has definitely asserted a damning effect on the sporting spirit across the globe. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics which were due to be held in 2020 was postponed to 2021. However, the mega event was still hosted behind closed doors. It was a pity that an international event of such a gargantuan size was forced to be organised behind closed doors — with the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Tokyo at the time.
One could easily sit down and speculate the effect that the pandemic has had on the performance of athletes. With players, coaches, support staff regularly testing positive, training facilities have been forced to slow down or shut down. Travel restrictions have also had a detrimental effect on the organisation of camps at world-class training centres abroad.
Simona Biles, the face of the US Olympic team, was shouldering her country’s gold medal hopes. Considered the greatest gymnast of all time, she was toting expectations for athletic dominance and repeated brilliance. As an outspoken advocate for female athletes, she was lugging around the pressure to make her fans proud.
One may even say she was carrying the weight of the nation on her shoulders until she made the stunning decision to withdraw from the final team competition, because of depression caused by lengthy periods of quarantine and isolation.
In Goa, we have the entirety of the Indian Super League football tournament being hosted by the state, for the second time behind closed doors. A sport that was expected to bring much fanfare during the festive period among the football-crazy people of Goa has been forced to television viewership. The absence of fans from the stadiums has had a demoralizing effect on players’ performance.
INTERNAL CRISIS
FC GOA who were considered favourites before the start of the tournament have struggled to find their feet and sit 9th in the table. Things have taken a turn for the worst with head coach Juan Ferrando stepping down and joining ATK Mohun Bagan. While all this may seem like a routine internal crisis within the club, it is at the same time alarming and could narrow down to discrepancies caused by the discomfort of quarantine protocol.
Just when everyone was beginning to think that the worst was over and stadiums could gradually open up to fans, attend games physically — the shadow of the Omicron covid variant threatens to take us back to square one! ISL Chairperson Nita Ambani has ruled out lifting of the curbs of the current tournament. Thus, incoming 2022 keeps the bubble intact for the future of sport.