Professional rugby is back on TV and I’m glad to be watching again. However over the lockdown period the game has changed. Previously I have mentioned two ways that the game has changed: one being that the players had had a prolonged period of rest so the skill level had dropped, but after a few weeks of play the players have got back to their previous level with a lot fewer mistakes occurring; the second issue I mentioned is that of full stadiums being replaced by one person pressing play on computerised crowd noise. Unfortunately we are still in a pandemic so nothing can be done about this until the restrictions are lifted.
Referee Nigel Owens (MBE) awarding a penalty .
Usually when there is a rule change in the game it happens gradually and in stages with a grace period where referees allow for players to adjust to the new rules. This gradual change wasn’t possible with rule changes being announced just before the country went into lockdown. Following return to play the referees are not giving players the benefit of the doubt or time to adjust. This has resulted in a stop start nature of the game, this combined with the increased number of handling errors has resulted in a game that doesn’t flow, with penalties being a regular occurrence.
I am surprised that this is something that I would ever say, but recently watching games has been a bit boring. Not that I find the game as a whole boring, but the most exciting part of watching a game to me was a team building pressure through multiple phases of play, leading to a well deserved team try. I have just had to come to accept this isn’t going to be a big part of the game at the moment. However, the stop start nature of the game at the moment is annoying me.
While the players adjust to the new rules, maybe it is the fans that have to give the grace period at the moment and allow for the game to be different to what we remember. The rule changes are introduced to protect the players from head and neck injury making the game safer (well as safe as a full contact sport can be!) I just hope that the players adjust quickly so that the game can return to its exciting form where we spend less time watching fly halves kicking. This frankly isn’t very exciting and I would much prefer spending more of the game watching big carries, crunching tackles or sensational tries from a sustained period of building pressure.
I have seen similar occurrences with other sports, rather than letting fans into the stadium they solely play it on TV or some teams have been allowing fans to purchase cutouts of themselves that will be placed in stadium seats. Although not all teams are following this and allowing their fans to sit in the stadium however, they took out more than half the seats only allowing a few people into the games. At what point do you think fans will be allowed to go in the stadium? Do you think that everyone will rush to get their tickets or will people be cautious and still prefer to watch it at home?
In the UK stadiums were due to be open with a reduced capacity within the next few weeks but due to the rising number of cases this has been postponed.
I think this is extremely representative of our current global struggles with maintaining some sense of normalcy and yet maintaining proper health protocols. Although sports enthusiasts around the globe are collectively disappointed in their inability to watch games in person now, do you think someday it will make their return to the stadium even sweeter?
I find this extremely relatable to what is going on with other sports around the world, in terms of there being limited to no crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even from watching baseball here in the USA from time to time, it just doesn’t feel the same without the fans, do you think that crowds and the fans being in the stands is an intrinsic part of watching sports now? Has COVID-19 really highlighted what not having fans directly at games is like?