Tough emergency Covid protocols are to be reintroduced in English football in an attempt to stop the new Omicron variant of the virus wreaking havoc on the game.
Among a series of stringent recommendations, which have been sent out separately to Premier League and English Football League clubs, is a warning around the dangers of holding Christmas parties and an insistence on masks and social distancing being re-imposed and treatment times being limited to 15 minutes. Both organisations suggest it would be wise to cancel any planned festive parties and limit those outside of the “bubble” interacting with first-team players.
The guidance from the EFL goes even further and outlines that clubs should group players on the team coach dependent on their Covid status – whether they have received a ‘booster’ jab, are double-vaccinated, unvaccinated or have contracted coronavirus in the past.
The EFL has also told its 72 members that goalkeepers should, effectively, not train together to avoid being “close contacts” to limit the number of games that are called off during what will be a hectic festive period.
There is an understandable desperation for football to carry on but also a growing concern that the new variant may rip through clubs and decimate the fixture list and cause chaos with the season.
The intervention follows on from the approval by the Premier League board of Tottenham Hotspur’s request to have their league game against Brighton on Sunday postponed after their squad was decimated by a Covid outbreak which also led to their crucial Europa Conference League tie at home to Rennes being called off. There is also concern that Spurs next fixture, against Leicester City, may also have to be postponed particularly as the Foxes have Covid cases of their own.
Either way it leaves Spurs facing a significant fixture back-log although there is clearly, given the guidance sent out to all 92 clubs on Thursday, growing concern as to whether football will be able to continue unless the new restrictions have an effect.
Clubs told to split squads to counter Covid call-offs
Clubs are being told to group their players on team coaches dependent on their Covid status in an attempt to crackdown on the new Omicron variant.
In its guidance the English Football League has also suggested that goalkeepers, for example, should not train together to avoid being “close contacts” so that games are not postponed.
Although the EFL – and the Premier League in its separate guidance – stop short of insisting that Christmas parties are cancelled there is strong advice against them from both bodies. The EFL cites cases in Norway and Spain where 90 and 70 people, respectively, were infected despite everyone being tested before the party. “Although not banned by government you should consider the risks carefully,” it warns.
The Premier League has written to all 20 of its clubs ordering the re-imposition of emergency Covid measures after Tottenham Hotspur’s fixture against Brighton was called off this Sunday.
The EFL has followed suit, contacting all of its 72 members, with a raft of measures imposed until the end of January 2022 with the “means of trying to avoid decimating squad numbers”. It warns that the measures may need to “escalate further” dependent on the virus and going into the busy Christmas period.
Although both organisations have introduced similar measures with, for example, treatment times for players now reduced to 15 minutes and the widespread wearing of masks, the EFL appears to have gone further.
This may well be because resources are not so great – they use fewer coaches and at some clubs players still share rooms in hotels. One of the more interesting recommendations is, therefore, to group players depending on whether they have had their booster jab, have been double vaccinated, have had Covid previously or have not been vaccinated at all.
Clubs should consider “how your players and staff are grouped, for example to inform coach seating plans to avoid several higher risk of contracting Covid-19 being sat close together”.
