Hetherington Suggests CC 6th Round Played Behind Closed Doors

[Tex Evans Thigh]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/52120910

Is this feasible, realistic, possible? Sounds a little opportunistic and irresponsible to me. We'd all love to see Rugby back on TV but I'm not sure this is a sensible suggestion.

Maybe if cases start to drop and you could test every single player, staff and TV crew to ensure all were negative it isn't going to happen. 

There is also player fitness to consider. How long will it take to get back to fitness and work on team structures etc. Then what happens for subsequent rounds? The same thing?

Lot to consider.

[Man of Kent]

Ideal games with which to eventually resume rugby. I’m all for it.

[Mr Plow]

You need doctors and an ambulance at games, so that rules it out straight away. Wait till we get past the peak then see what happens 

[Hela Wigmen]

Daft idea at this stage. 

[MADREDNIGE]

There's 1000,s dieing, most people being told to stop in, everyone told to keep two metres apart etc and he's more bothered about sport, it is what it is and sport isn't ensential enough to think about yet. 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

The man's an idiot, not what I really wanted to post, but I'd have probably been banned if I'd put what I was thinking.

[Man of Kent]

Don’t want to seem callous but the peak is due within a fortnight. It’s right to start thinking about how life resumes once the burden on the NHS starts to ease. 

[Tommygilf]

10 minutes ago, MADREDNIGE said:

There's 1000,s dieing, most people being told to stop in, everyone told to keep two metres apart etc and he's more bothered about sport, it is what it is and sport isn't ensential enough to think about yet. 

 

2 minutes ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

The man's an idiot, not what I really wanted to post, but I'd have probably been banned if I'd put what I was thinking.

Will you both stop being so bloody melodramatic 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

Don’t want to seem callous but the peak is due within a fortnight. It’s right to start thinking about how life resumes once the burden on the NHS starts to ease. 

Exactly

[terrywebbisgod]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

 

Will you both stop being so bloody melodramatic 

Imagine if one of the forums chosen few had said what Hetherington has said,it would be a fantastic idea but you get the usual guff because of who said it.

 

[Just Browny]

I recognise that there are a lot of bored young men sat on sofas without much to do at the moment, but there is probably a wider public interest. So no, not a good idea.

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, terrywebbisgod said:

Imagine if one of the forums chosen few had said what Hetherington has said,it would be a fantastic idea but you get the usual guff because of who said it.

 

The ott reaction is ridiculous you'd think he'd just said that the poor should be forced to work and the elderly turned away from hospitals the way some have reacted.

[terrywebbisgod]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

The ott reaction is ridiculous you'd think he'd just said that the poor should be forced to work and the elderly turned away from hospitals the way some have reacted.

Typical responses to whatever Hetherington says,unfortunately. 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

So the stadiums won't be open to fans but sport in a controlled environment may be an option -just as the premier league has investigated doing? That suggestion is what you're getting uppity about?

Because as soon as you say yes to one sport every sport will want to do it, and before long you're having to isolate several thousand from the wider world and their families and tie up precious resources. Never mind the message you send to the population at large that social distancing isn't really that necessary nor the fact that there's likely a significant number of those actually infected who are asymptomatic. Sports leaders really need to start keeping their gobs shut about starting to play again until we're well on our way to being out of the woods and things are beginning to return to normal, and even then, they should tread carefully.

[MADREDNIGE]

1 hour ago, terrywebbisgod said:

Typical responses to whatever Hetherington says,unfortunately. 

Nothing to do with Gary H saying it, I'd have said same who ever it was. This is a Pandemic not a common cold! 

[paulwalker71]

I really do think that people seen as spokespersons for our game - and Gary Hetherington fits into the category, regardless of whether we like him or not - really need to keep these opinions to themselves.

Now is not a helpful time to be talking about squeezing in games for commercial gain - and there is definitely that element to his comments. The Government has made it VERY clear that when things start to return to normal it will happen gradually over a period of months, and I wouldn't have thought that competitive sports will be at the very top of the list of things that should happen first.

FWIW its worth, I'm not really expecting things to significantly return to normal until September, so this season pretty much looks like a bust in any event.

[Just Browny]

54 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

So the stadiums won't be open to fans but sport in a controlled environment may be an option -just as the premier league has investigated doing? That suggestion is what you're getting uppity about?

How on earth are you going to justify asking the general public (including kids etc) to keep away from others and avoid contact when they are watching their heroes and role models doing the exact opposite, live, on the telly?

And who is picking up the insurance bill for those players taking the risk of contracting a potential deadly disease, through actions that the Government has just proscribed in law?

I don't give a whether it is Gary Hetherington, Robert Elstone or Blake Austin - it's bonkers.

[DoubleD]

2 hours ago, MADREDNIGE said:

There's 1000,s dieing, most people being told to stop in, everyone told to keep two metres apart etc and he's more bothered about sport, it is what it is and sport isn't ensential enough to think about yet. 

It's literally his job........what's wrong with looking at how best to get things back going again?

[doc]

Would Widnes get a bye? Maybe Catalans will throw the tie?

Fine by me.

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

The ott reaction is ridiculous you'd think he'd just said that the poor should be forced to work and the elderly turned away from hospitals the way some have reacted.

That's less controversial than some of things i've seen on this forum!

[Tommygilf]

37 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Because as soon as you say yes to one sport every sport will want to do it, and before long you're having to isolate several thousand from the wider world and their families and tie up precious resources. Never mind the message you send to the population at large that social distancing isn't really that necessary nor the fact that there's likely a significant number of those actually infected who are asymptomatic. Sports leaders really need to start keeping their gobs shut about starting to play again until we're well on our way to being out of the woods and things are beginning to return to normal, and even then, they should tread carefully.

That's a valid critique, its not "there's 1000s dying this isn't essential conversation!"

I think its fair that the sport plans with what it may look to do and that ideas are sounded out amongst the population. On the news today there was discussion that the reintroduction to some sort of normalcy will likely be phased to mean younger people first, clearly sportsmen would fall into that and perhaps that is what the leaders of our game are being told, hence such suggestions. 

I don't quite get the "tieing up precious resources argument" personally. Ambulances are present at every game of almost every major sport from senior to schoolboy level every weekend of every week of the year - and its not like many of the rest of us are out doing much that would require an ambulance either. Regardless I'm not expecting them to start this next week and will almost certainly wait until the peak of pressure on the health service is over and the government through its channels disseminates that.

[DoubleD]

2 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/52120910

Is this feasible, realistic, possible? Sounds a little opportunistic and irresponsible to me. We'd all love to see Rugby back on TV but I'm not sure this is a sensible suggestion.

Maybe if cases start to drop and you could test every single player, staff and TV crew to ensure all were negative it isn't going to happen. 

There is also player fitness to consider. How long will it take to get back to fitness and work on team structures etc. Then what happens for subsequent rounds? The same thing?

Lot to consider.

I think the bit in bold is the critical part. I know cricket were looking at this exact same measure to restart, even for their summer tests.

These restrictions are necessary to flatten the curve but I think they'll be eased off by June, both because we'll be past the peak but also the harm it is doing to global economies and national finances is crippling

[Tommygilf]

12 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

How on earth are you going to justify asking the general public (including kids etc) to keep away from others and avoid contact when they are watching their heroes and role models doing the exact opposite, live, on the telly?

And who is picking up the insurance bill for those players taking the risk of contracting a potential deadly disease, through actions that the Government has just proscribed in law?

I don't give a whether it is Gary Hetherington, Robert Elstone or Blake Austin - it's bonkers.

Well clearly they wouldn't do anything that was illegal so thats a moronic statement right there.

And as for everyone else, I'm pretty sure people will be glad for something else to watch to pass the innate boredom of this time. The seriousness of this situation is obvious to all sane people, but I think we all hope and recognise that this situation will not last forever. Are you seriously suggesting that old Jim and Dorris will think this has all blown over because certain sports with their "heroes" in a month or two will be playing behind closed doors?

[Tommygilf]

9 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

That's less controversial than some of things i've seen on this forum!

Hahaha yeah come to think of it between the politics board and the CCF

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Wont the empty stands act as a pretty big message that social distancing is still important?

Evidently not...