Apparently the SL chairmen are meeting tomorrow. On the table is playing behind closed doors or postponing the season. It looks as though the second option will be preferred as clubs can not afford to give up the gate money, however even postponing is going to cause several clubs financial problems. I guess it may be a quick decision on the first item followed by a lengthy one on the second. Perhaps they can get some form of government loan ? https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ssion=true

Apparently the SL chairmen are meeting tomorrow. On the table is playing behind closed doors or postponing the season. It looks as though the second option will be preferred as clubs can not afford to give up the gate money, however even postponing is going to cause several clubs financial problems. I guess it may be a quick decision on the first item followed by a lengthy one on the second. Perhaps they can get some form of government loan ? https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ssion=true

I don’t think our sport could afford the shutdown and before the doomsayer’s come on and start screaming putting money before health no I’m not, I’m just saying it will damage rugby league. I’d still wait till the government close it all down if they are going to do so.

No option other than to close down.

It's impossible for the clubs to manage it.

What happens if say 2 players start developing symptoms. So you put them in isolation. But they've been training, so will have been in close contact with lots of their team mates at training. Does everyone who was then in training have to go in to isolation too? So no training that week. But can you put them out on the field? That endangers the other team. So find alternative players who weren't at that training session, for that game. Match day squads will soon become patched up sets of academy players and players recalled from loan.

Given the rate at which it is likely to spread, it will rapidly rip through a dressing room so how do they prevent that. Its not like they can do "working from home" or say maintain a safe distance from your colleagues, no physical contact.

Also, if you're a player, and you see the rest of the country shutting down, at what point do you say, hang on mate, I've got a family, you're putting me at higher risk of exposure than most people and I can then pass it on to them. You're putting me at risk of something which damages my lungs, when my whole livelihood revolves around having extreme levels of CV fitness.

The clubs might try to make a show of saying "we're just following government advice", and keep going for one or two more weeks, then it will become untenable and they will have to close down anyway.

What we are facing is unprecedented, they just need to come to the best decision for all involved. As has been mentioned on other threads it's not so much the players it's their close relatives and friends who are in the more vulnerable demographic. Even if we lose 1 professional player to it, which although lower risk is possible, it is too many.

Never mind superleague give it a week or so and the whole country will be in lockdown , we are a week or so behind spain in terms of infections ,who have only 70% of our population , they in turn are a week behind italy. This is gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better, we got back from teneriffe yesterday and the airport was chaos , mates over there now and the whole place is in lockdown, no pubs or bars open and the chemists and supermarkets are only letting limited numbers in at a time.

Drop the last loop fixtures would help.

What makes football a big issue according to the government is that emergency service kept occupied at matches may be better used in an emergency health crisis.

Quote: CW8 "What we are facing is unprecedented, they just need to come to the best decision for all involved. As has been mentioned on other threads it's not so much the players it's their close relatives and friends who are in the more vulnerable demographic. Even if we lose 1 professional player to it, which although lower risk is possible, it is too many.'" It's not unprecedented, it's not even the worst viral outbreak. The seasonal flu epidemic in 1989 to 1990 caused 26,000 deaths in England and Wales alone. Spanish Flu 1918 to 1919 - 200,000 UK deaths (young adults, children and elderly) Asian Flu 1957 to 1958 33,000 UK deaths (children) Hong Kong Flu 1968 to 1969 80,000 UK deaths (all ages) Swine Flu 2009 to 2010 - 457 UK deaths MERS 2012 0 UK deaths deaths Serious Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2002 to 2003 - 0 UK deaths Seasonal flu epidemic 1989 to 1990 - 26,000 deaths in England and Wales Government Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... oss-the-uk

Quote: CW8 "What we are facing is unprecedented, they just need to come to the best decision for all involved. As has been mentioned on other threads it's not so much the players it's their close relatives and friends who are in the more vulnerable demographic. Even if we lose 1 professional player to it, which although lower risk is possible, it is too many.'" It's not unprecedented, it's not even the worst viral outbreak. The seasonal flu epidemic in 1989 to 1990 caused 26,000 deaths in England and Wales alone. Spanish Flu 1918 to 1919 - 200,000 UK deaths (young adults, children and elderly) Asian Flu 1957 to 1958 33,000 UK deaths (children) Hong Kong Flu 1968 to 1969 80,000 UK deaths (all ages) Swine Flu 2009 to 2010 - 457 UK deaths MERS 2012 0 UK deaths deaths Serious Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2002 to 2003 - 0 UK deaths Seasonal flu epidemic 1989 to 1990 - 26,000 deaths in England and Wales Government Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... oss-the-uk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/51901718 Reading that they will carry on till the government shut it all down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/51901718 Reading that they will carry on till the government shut it all down.

I think it's inevitable, now.
To be fair, the RFL (and the horse racing board) have shown a great amount of "balls" for carrying on, and FOLLOWING Government guidelines. Concerts are still going on, etc.
The tipping point was "famous people" getting it.
America (the most insular nation on the planet) had few cases. Tom Hanks catches it, The Players golf (already started) and Masters are cancelled within 24 hours.
Over here, Arteta at Arsenal and 2 Chelsea players catch it, and
ALL professional games are cancelled in 24 hours. Then, other sports follow suit. On Tuesday, it was carry on regardless.

I get the feeling the RFL WOULD carry on, until the government says so, but with Catalans being in the equation, and with them bordering Spain, it's impractical for the the other teams to carry on, but them, not.

Scrap the loop fixtures and even the play offs and award the league title to whoever finishes top. Doing that would free up around ten weeks.

Impossible to guess how any of this will pan out though. Can’t see any form of normality anytime soon, but at least doing something along those lines would be better than making a snap decision to end the season now.

I've no idea what the small print on players contracts says with respect to long term postponements. However if they find themselves reliant upon UC the chances are that a percentage will search out other careers and be lost to the game for ever.

Usually a clause for force majeur events.

I think we will see a ban on public gatherings within a week or so and that to remain for 2 months.

If players are still training, and it can be done without risk to players or staff, then there's no barrier to playing games behind closed doors. But is there any benefit in actually doing so ?

Clubs need revenue that games provide, so unless there was a paid for live streaming option, then behind closed doors games don't really achieve that much (apart from maintaining player fitness levels)

If all sport is cancelled for however long don't forget to cancel your sky subscriptions unless you want to watch old repeats..and if they do scrap the season will you get a refund on your season ticket