Waiting game continues as Covid keeps most sport on the sidelines

Inside Track with John McIntyre

It’s only the early days of February, but Covid-19 is wreaking havoc on the sports calendar for the second year running. Apart from professional rugby, horse and greyhound racing, the GAA and soccer fields, gyms, swimming pools, golf courses, basketball arenas, athletic tracks and tennis courts are empty.

This time last year there was growing media coverage of a virus which had originated in the far-away Wuhan province of China, but few of us thought back then in Ireland how it would in the space of six weeks turn our normal world upside down, never mind the catastrophic impact on sport.

When the Tokyo Olympic Games was a Covid-19 casualty last summer, no sport could be immune from its trail of destruction. Ireland went into its first lockdown in mid-March and the following months gave an eerie glimpse into what a post Armageddon world might look like . . . people were dying, streets were virtually deserted and there was widespread fear.

By the late summer, the coronavirus appeared to be burning itself out and, in a sporting context, some normality began to return. In GAA, the club championships resumed, admittedly with restricted numbers at the games, while the League of Ireland completed their season with Galway United losing in the First Division play-off final to Longford Town last November.

Heading into the winter, however, it was clear Covid-19 was not going away anytime soon. The All-Ireland senior hurling and football championships were completed, but behind closed doors, while the U20 hurling title race, together with the inter-county minor championships ground to a halt subsequently.

At least, the GAA and soccer communities were able to salvage most of their season, but spare a thought for the All-Ireland League rugby teams or the basketball players. There have not been able to play since last March and one can only imagine the frustration and despair that has led to.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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