Everything was going according to the plans until one fine day, a pandemic (Coronavirus) hit us, and since then, nothing has been the same. COVID-19 has affected almost 213 countries around the world, leaving people suffering from not only the disease but also a dying economy due to lockdown. While everything was shut, sports is something that was highly affected, with almost 150 sports events getting cancelled all around the world.
Earlier sports officials denied any kind of postponement or cancellation in the sports events. But gradually, when situations started getting serious, and several countries went into complete lockdown, the audience’s hope of enjoying their sports in the stadium was totally crushed. The biggest heartbreaking moment for sports lovers was when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed to next year. After this, everyone knew that coronavirus has completely dominated the world of sports.
People still have no clue when this pandemic will be over, but one thing they know is that the sports post-COVID-19 is never going to be the same. Sports enthusiasts all over the world understand that until there is any vaccine found for coronavirus, no one knows when and how the sports will be played as they were in the pre-Covid-19 times.
Here, we are going to shed light on some of the popular sports played around the world that are going to experience a major change when they are back.
Table of Contents
Cricket
Cricket is one of the most popular and loved sports all over the world. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a number of series were cancelled which left fans disappointed. But there is good news for cricket lovers as the sport is soon going to make its comeback after almost a three-month-long break. But the sport is not going to be the same as before.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come with four major changes in the rules in order to ensure the player’s safety and keep the show going on.
Foremost, all the teams will be allowed to replace their players who show any symptoms of COVID-19. But such replacements are allowed only for Test matches, not the ODI’s or T20 matches.
There will be no use of saliva or any artificial substance for making the ball shine as according to experts, it increases the chances of transmission of the virus among humans. Well, the committee has approved the use of sweat on the ball.
Due to restrictions on international travel, ICC has now approved the use of home umpires since the year 2002. This decision has been taken in order to bring the sport back on track. These local umpires will be selected from the ICC elite panel and the ICC international panel of match officials.
There will be an increase in the number of reviews for each team so that there is no feeling of biasness among the visiting teams. This rule will apply to each and every format of the game.
We know how eagerly you’re waiting for your favourite sport and sports player to appear on your screen. You can soon enjoy watching crickets as the West Indies tour of England is going to kick off in July.
Well, for Indians who love Ipl felt heartbroken when the event was cancelled, but now you can rejoice as there could be a possibility of it happening in the month of November or December this year.
Football
Football is another such sport which is loved across nations. Fans were highly disappointed when everything was on a halt. But football fans didn’t have to wait much as this sport made a comeback in the month of May itself with Borussia Dortmund v/s Schalke in the Bundesliga football league. Currently, the English Premier League is in full fledge, and you can catch it on your tv screens.
Well, the game was played with all the coronavirus restrictions and protocols in place. Due to several restrictions, there were no fans in the stadium to cheer their favourite players. Besides this, the players were seen wearing gloves and celebrating their goals from a distance.
Let’s have a look at the significant changes in football post-COVID-19
According to the new rules, football teams will be allowed to make 5 substitutions in their team. David Wagner, the coach of Schalke has become the first person to make use of this rule. He used the maximum substitutions possible against Dortmund.
As there were no spectators in the stadium, players were to be seen sitting on the alternative seats and wearing protective masks in accordance with the social distancing norms. Not only that the balls were also disinfected in regular intervals by personnel wearing gloves.
Talking about the English Premier League, the players will have to take the COVID-19 test as their clubbing ground before appearing for the matches.
The teams will be not standing side-by-side instead they will take on the fields separately.
Last but not least, there will be plexiglass placed in order to separate players and journalists for interviews after the match.
Tennis
Another sport that is loved by people is none other than Tennis. While other fans were still waiting for their beloved sports to appear back on their tv screens, Tennis was back with it’s most loved players.
But the games was just not the same as before, there were several changes seen in the sports post-COVID-19 as below:
Foremost, there were no fans in the stadium which did let down the players a little bit but as they say, the show must go on.
There were absolutely no people even in the court like ball boys and girls, line judges. The only person that would be present is a chair umpire.
The most important thing – No handshakes. Besides this, the players held their own towels and also brought their own water and fruit to the court.
