Sports authorities are desperately clinging to normality during the lockdown – here’s why they shouldn’t

It would be far more beneficial both physically and mentally, says Jack de Menezes, if sport’s message was a clear one: go home, stay home, look after yourself and we’ll see you when we can

We won’t now be seeing Roger Federer at Roland Garros until September, following the decision to postpone May’s French Open (Getty)

As we enter the second week of lockdown in Great Britain, the afternoon updates on the coronavirus death toll bring with them a dreaded feeling of helplessness, with the reality setting in that this new draconian way of living will not be a short-term thing.

Yet almost as regular as the daily updates are the contingency plans from various sports and their governing bodies. Uefa wants football to resume before the end of this June, while the French Open moved its tennis Grand Slam without consulting the industry. Rugby union’s Premiership, let’s not forget, has already stated that it hopes to be the first sport back in action on TV in the post-coronavirus world, while Formula One is ready to unleash a 16-race calendar on the world whenever it gets the green light to resume racing.

Boxing chipped in too on Monday, with Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight bout against Alexander Povetkin rescheduled for 4 July as one of three Matchroom events moved from May. Why? Because the British Boxing Board of Control suspended the sport for the entire month, with June also at risk of a similar fate.

How so many sports feel they should rush into rescheduling decisions simply beggars belief, given there is no clarification on when life as we knew it will return.

As much as anyone, I cannot wait for sport to resume. But with so much uncertainty surrounding when that will be, it would be wise for certain authorities to batten down the hatches and see where we are in a few months’ time.

Not only do the provisional dates give fans a dose of false hope, but they keep the athletes second-guessing themselves. It would be far more beneficial if the message was a clear one: go home, stay home, look after yourself and we’ll see you when we can.

Instead, boxers are being told they could be back in the ring in three months, football and rugby stars have expressed concerns at their fixtures resuming, while the rescheduling of Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics has left the Women’s European Championship with no choice but to postpone a tournament that has received little or no consideration.

The whole thing has been a mess, and while it is keeping sport in the headlines, it is for all the wrong reasons.

Yours,

Jack de Menezes

Deputy sports editor