Project Restart, the English Premier League's plan to finish the 2019-20 football season, has become an inelegant game of kicking the can down the road.
This week the league met following the UK Government’s announcement that elite sport could begin again in June, so long as matches were played behind closed doors. Even so, it is clear that the clubs find few points of agreement over what happens next. More meetings are scheduled over the coming days.
Those points of difference may be driven by self-interest over this season's outstanding matters or by an understandable degree of caution given the ongoing pandemic. To date, more than 225,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK and more than 32,000 people have died.
Several top football players have articulated their unease at the prospect of football rushing back into action, particularly when rates of infection remain high and the strains on the health service are still evident.
Newcastle United's Danny Rose summed up those sentiments when he said this week: "I am sad that people are getting sick and being affected. Football should be the last thing that needs to be sorted."
Many matters need careful consideration, including the testing regime that would need to be put in place to stage matches and the inevitable diversion of resources away from the health service if any of the players were injured in a game. It is also clear that even one positive Covid-19 test would throw the whole fragile process back into uncertainty.
How the Premier League proceeds from here is a matter of great interest, not just for fans but for a wider audience, as the most-watched football league in the world should be seen to set the standards rather than follow them.
Other European leagues have charted their own course: the Bundesliga resumes in Germany this weekend, despite more players testing positive this week, while the French Ligue 1 has already abandoned the 2019-20 season, declared its champions and relegated two clubs. Legal challenges to those decisions are looming.
The better way for the EPL to proceed would be to seek counsel from outside sport and also to find some answers in football’s history. There are solutions to be found in both of them and, indeed, by learning from mistakes of the decision-making elsewhere.
For instance, tertiary education in the UK has responded to Covid-19 by developing a ‘no-detriment policy’ for undergraduates and postgraduates, which means that a student’s grades will not be negatively affected by this year’s pandemic.
The Premier League could follow the same logic. Matches cannot be held under anything close to normal conditions and the coronavirus is beyond the sport’s control, so the season should not be restarted, but it should not be declared void either. There should be recognition and understanding that a radical new approach is needed to find solutions.
To settle this season's league, teams should stay in the positions in the table they are now. There should be no relegation or detriment for the class of 2019-20, but those clubs below the top tier should not be punished by having their pathway to promotion blocked by the negative impact of the season being considered incomplete.
Instead, the league should be expanded to invite the top three teams from the Championship into the Premier League next season. The FA Cup and European competitions are a separate negotiation, but there is a pressing need to accept things have changed and won't easily go back to the way they were. Realistically, the mooted June return date is just that. It is a guess, albeit an educated one, that the situation may be better by then.
And what does football history tell us?
It is a matter of British sporting folklore that Blackpool were top of the English league when the 1939-40 season was abandoned at the outset of the Second World War in September 1939. Subsequent seasons during wartime, such as they were, were played out regionally.
If the ‘no detriment’ Premier League were to come into existence, it should split into two regions – north and south – similar to the system that the Football League’s associate members, as they were referred to then, played under until the 1950s.
This revised EPL could also consider only playing each opponent once, in a system akin to the NFL, and having a playoff system between the regions as a finale, as happened during the Second World War. The aim would be to provide more breaks in the calendar in case football had to stop once more.
The goal must also be to play matches in front of at least some spectators when football does belatedly restart.
Football is a game of emotions, but the game's hierarchy must use reason to take its next step
The problems with fulfilling fixtures behind closed doors are multiple. Football is about more than the game, it is about spectacle, community and support. EPL matches being played out in front of banks of empty seats reinforces two things.
First, the long-term commodification of the game and more specifically, that in the connected relationships between clubs, supporters and broadcasters, the link that really matters is the one between television contracts and sporting organisations. That reality will eventually sit uncomfortably with fans, if it does not do so already.
Earlier this month in these pages, columnist Tom Fletcher wrote that post-pandemic nations will be judged on whether they were led by reason or emotion in this crisis. Football is a game of emotions, but its hierarchy must use reason to take its next step and it must do so guided by safety and science. They must also accept that the process of opening up is much harder than locking down.
Nick March is an assistant editor-in-chief at The National
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Liverpool v Manchester United - 3.30pm
Burnley v West Ham United - 6pm
Crystal Palace v Chelsea - 6pm
Manchester City v Stoke City - 6pm
Swansea City v Huddersfield Town - 6pm
Tottenham Hotspur v Bournemouth - 6pm
Watford v Arsenal - 8.30pm
Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Everton - 4.30pm
Southampton v Newcastle United - 7pm
Monday
Leicester City v West Bromwich Albion - 11pm
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Zayed Sustainability Prize
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDirect%20Debit%20System%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sept%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20with%20a%20subsidiary%20in%20the%20UK%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elaine%20Jones%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Indian origin executives leading top technology firms
Sundar Pichai
Chief executive, Google and Alphabet
Satya Nadella
Chief executive, Microsoft
Ajaypal Singh Banga
President and chief executive, Mastercard
Shantanu Narayen
Chief executive, chairman, and president, Adobe
Indra Nooyi
Board of directors, Amazon and former chief executive, PepsiCo
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
