Today in (NO) SPORTS Thursday brought an end to soccer in Turkey, but Aussie rules football got started on schedule. Fans are growing restive as the reality sinks in: There are almost no live sporting events going on anywhere. Many people finding themselves at home 24/7 for social distancing might be tempted to turn on the TV, only to find repeats of “classic” (and not-so-classic) games exclusively on the menu. We found some sports (and some attempts at sports) that are still going on out there — Major League Fishing anyone?
— at least for now. Down under, the news is brighter for the sports junkie. Australian rugby and soccer are soldiering on. And the Australian rules football season kicked off as scheduled on Thursday night in Melbourne.
The atmosphere at the storied Melbourne Cricket Ground for Richmond-Carlton was eerily quiet. There were players, television announcers and a handful of team officials, but the 100,000 seats, normally nearly full of leather-lunged fans for the season opener, were empty. “We Will Rock You” and “Mr. Brightside” were gamely played over the loudspeakers to try to create some atmosphere.
But the lack of cheering and singing made for a slightly empty experience, more like watching a practice session than a pomp-filled season opener. Many took a cue from the music and looked at the bright side. “Mixed feelings watching this. It’s sad, even depressing, with no fans, but it’s the best result of a bad situation.
At least we’re getting to see some footy,” Ronny Lerner posted on Twitter. Non-aficionado television viewers may have been baffled by the footy, but some at least gave it a shot; in the United States it aired on Fox Soccer Plus. “Not a clue what’s going on, but I’m watching live sports,” enthused someone with the handle “Illegal Daniel.
“” ESPN, home to football, baseball and basketball in normal times, plans to run cornhole, ax throwing, miniature golf, cup stacking, arm wrestling and cherry-pit spitting on Sunday.”
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Feel free to read that sentence again. That leaves TVG as America’s new ESPN, with horse racing nearly around the clock on the channel. Gavle in Sweden runs in the morning, Gulfstream in the afternoon, harness racing from Saratoga in the evening and Swan Hill in Australia (a veritable sports paradise! ) late at night.
“We hope that we can offer a safe diversion and a bit of entertainment for people, especially in light of the cancellation and postponement of so many sports events,” said Kip Levin, the CEO of TVG. Why is horse racing chugging along in times like these? We’ll wager you can guess. Turkey was one of the last European leagues to keep its soccer season going, with top-level action played as recently as Tuesday.
On Thursday, the leagues were shut down for a month. Basketball and volleyball were also halted. Shortly afterward came the news that Abdurrahim Albayrak, the president of one of the biggest clubs in the country, Galatasaray, was quarantined with suspicion of having the virus, the Turkish sports newspaper Fanatik reported. Fatih Terim, Galatasaray’s manager, had been outspoken in asking that the season be suspended.
John Obi Mikel, a Nigerian familiar for his years with Chelsea, left another Turkish team, Trabzonspor, this week. “I do not feel comfortable and don’t want to play football in this situation,” he said. Beyond Australia, soccer is now confined primarily to Africa, South America, and, for whatever reason, Belarus. Formula One, which had already postponed its first four races, threw in the towel Thursday on races in the Netherlands, Spain and even Monaco, the glamorous site of its most famous race.
That would make the somewhat less iconic Azerbaijan Grand Prix the first event, on June 7. Switch those reservations from the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo to the Ramada in Baku, folks!
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