Sports without Spectators

[EgonSpengler]

So with MMA just having an event with no spectators, an interesting aspect was brought up. With no fans you could hear EVERYTHING. Every blow, grunt, the corner men talking, the sound of a guy's face getting 'broke'. Even the fighters said they heard the commentator calling the fight, and adjusted their strategies based on the commentator's advice.

Yeah, I'm watching tonight's UFC card, and the lack of fans is a little strange. On the one hand, like you say, you can hear the action and the corners with a clarity you normally don't get. It's reminiscent of The Ultimate Fighter with no crowd.

 

[Arwon]

We've got a restart date for our two big football leagues, with the National Rugby League back on Thursday May 28 (just under 2 weeks away) and the Australian Football League to follow a fortnight later on June 11. They've had to wait until there was a workable level of permissions around full contact training and exercise gathering sizes across enough states. Rugby Union is nowhere near restarting and I think soccer is looking at early August.

Games with crowds attending are a long way off.

Players will be following a lot of strict health protocols including twice weekly swabs, ie before contact training and before matches. There's also constant temperature checks, restriction of contact with the public, and equivalent protocols on family members.

Fixtures are being announced in blocks of about a month so they can stay flexible in the face of further closures or other eventualities. New Zealand in the NRL and the four Adelaide and Perth teams in the AFL cannot play at home due to 14-day quarantine requirements on travellers, so they are being re-based on the east coast of Australia in resorts with the leagues paying for family to join them.

Queensland isn't letting anyone who hasn't had a flu shot play there so a few antivaxer players had issues with the mandatory flu shots in the NRL. This hasn't flared up in the AFL yet, because most of the anti vaccine people are Polynesian players in whose cultures antivax has apparently become a bit of a thing, and the AFL just doesn't have islander players.

 

[Takhisis]

The Bundesliga's coming be backish.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Borussia Mönchengladbach supporters are filling the seats for their match against Leverkusen.

 

[Hrothbern]

The Bundesliga's coming be backish.

Which means many will look at the matches in their local pubs or at squares with big screens.
Will be interesting to see how overcrowding there is prevented or policed.

EDIT
That suppoters do not travel longer distances to see together the match in their own village, neighborhood is already a big plus: looking in your own village neighborhood

 

[Broken_Erika]

Here's how not to do it.

Coronavirus football: FC Seoul apologises for 'sex dolls' in stands

It is a challenge for sports leagues across the world - if play can only resume in empty stadiums, how can the atmosphere be improved?

However, not many clubs will be rushing to follow the example of FC Seoul.

The top-flight South Korean side has apologised after fans accused them of using sex dolls in the stands.

FC Seoul insisted they were "premium mannequins" rather than sex dolls - but did admit they came from a supplier that produces sex toys.

And some of the dolls were holding signs advertising x-rated websites - despite pornography being banned in South Korea.

The mannequins' manufacturer told the BBC they had apologised to FC Seoul. But they also reiterated that the dolls were merely "premium mannequins".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52702075

 

[Hygro]

Why apologize? They’re heroes.

 

[Arwon]

I'm grumpy now, the NRL is letting teams in Melbourne and North Queensland play in their own stadium with visiting teams flying in to play, but they're making Canberra travel up to western Sydney for "home" games. Canberra will be the only team who is going to have to get chartered flights to play home games for the next two months despite the fact that we're the only place with open borders and which is completely virus free! And they've dumped them almost completely from the TV schedule despite being grand finalists last year.

Even in a pandemic they find ways to conspire against us, what a rort, can't wait to smash em and win the premiership anyway.