From The Athletic on the CoVid-related rules for the remainder of the season:
Teams will arrive at grounds on the same schedule as before, expected to be 90 minutes before kick-off. But when they walk into the highest-security āRed Zoneā of the stadium through the playersā entrance, they will find a place very different from those they last played in three months ago. The two squads will head through the sterile corridors to the dressing rooms, in the heart of the Red Zone.
In the past, dressing rooms have been a hive of activity before and after games. Children who were mascots for the day would get photos with their heroes. After the game, family members might be allowed in, or club officials would swing by to congratulate their players. Or even famous fans, there for another round of photos. Noel Gallagher, for example, is no stranger to Manchester City dressing rooms after big games.
But that will not be the case anymore.
Access will be restricted to players, coaches and physios only. No fans, mascots, friends or family be allowed in. Even the dozens of backroom staff who would normally be there ā analysts, masseurs, player liaison officers ā will find their access restricted. And within each dressing room, a clubās players will be asked to space out and observe social distancing where possible.
Normally, players would go out for a walk on the pitch after arriving at the ground, but that is no longer expected to take place. The warm-ups will be limited, with contact minimised, and when the players return to the dressing room they will find the team talk even more restricted.
Because under the new rules, the only people allowed to attend the team talk will be the players and the coaches, no other club staff. And it will be limited to 15 minutesā duration at most, because individuals should not be spending too much time in close proximity indoors.
After that, and after sanitising their hands, the two teams will come out into the tunnel. In the past, this area would be busy, full of club officials and media, the young fans who will be accompanying the players as mascots, and with players embracing friends and former team-mates among the opposition.
From this week, though, a Premier League tunnel will be a very different place.
If the tunnel is narrow, the two teams will not be able to occupy it at the same time. Instead, their emergence onto the pitch will have to be staggered. While in the tunnel, the players will be checked by the match officials for their shinpads, boots and any jewellery. The away team will likely go onto the pitch first, fanning out on one side of the halfway line. Only then will the home team take their places in the tunnel.
Many of the usual little rituals before a game will be abandoned. There will be no children as mascots. There are unlikely to be adults dressed up in oversized fancy dress costumes either, as popular as Gunnersaurus and Fred the Red may beā¦
There will, of course, be no pre-game handshake, as the Premier League has forbidden it. The two teams will not even walk past each other on the pitch in the old way. But the handshake board they would walk past will still be up, and the Premier League anthem will still be played.
There will be little need for pre-game photographs on the pitch, with no sponsorsā representatives or mascots or anyone else milling about on the pitch. The coin toss will still be held.
When the match gets underway, the officials will know that they have to run it in a way that is different from all of the other games they have worked in their careers before lockdown, by encouraging a change in behaviour from the players. This means no handshakes, no absent-minded spitting and encouraging players to distance themselves when celebrating goals or in other non-game related situations. Players will be repeatedly reminded of their responsibilities regarding coronavirus.
Back in the stadiums, referees will also have a new job in their management of keeping the ball in play. Under normal circumstances, there are thousands of fans and armies of ball-boys and girls on hand to return a ball to the pitch. But in an empty stadium, that network will not exist. So there will be a few footballs dotted around the outside of the pitch, each sitting on a cone to stop it rolling away. So if a ball has been kicked deep into a deserted stand, or over one, the referee can point to the ball on the cone for a player to use for his subsequent throw-in or corner. Meanwhile, a member of staff can retrieve the original ball and return it to an empty cone.
Ultimately the flow of the game ā the tackles and passes and shots ā will be the most normal thing that we see on Wednesday and in the coming weeks. It is everything external to that which will be strange. When goals are scored, and referees are encouraging players to distance themselves in celebration rather than hug. Or at the final whistle, when players might normally embrace team-mates or opponents, they will be encouraged not to.
And when the players head back down the tunnel after the game, more restrictions will apply.
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