Sport finally gets its light at the end of the tunnel

The easing of some lockdown rules will be welcomed by amateur and professional sportspeople alike and, as Vithushan Ehantharajah writes, it can’t come soon enough

Related video: Coronavirus – what have we got to feel optimistic about? (Getty)

Golf, tennis, basketball and angling.

At any other time this would read like the running order of an episode of TransWorld Sport. Yet here we are.

The government’s 50-page Covid-19 recovery strategy contained details of the pursuits permitted from Wednesday, with the caveat that they should either be practised alone or one other person from your household. As many threw out various permutations for clarity, others were making plans. Already tee-times have been booked up, and a handful of courses say those were nabbed this time last week as desperate golfers took punts based on paper talk.

Did you know, by the way, that angling brings in £4billion into the economy? Expect to read more of those nuggets from a range of recreational sports as they push their cases to be the next ones allowed to play outside with the rest. That number featured as part of the Angling Trust’s “When We Fish Again” campaign. Chalk that one up as a win.

The ability to continue as normal while adhering to guidelines around two-metre social distancing helps, as do regulars possessing their own rackets, clubs and rods. The green light for basketball is another reminder of its understated popularity in the UK – it is the second-most played team sport, after football – rather than a second wave of Jordan fever.

Club cricket is another faction looking to appease its dedicated participants. The England and Wales Cricket Board reiterated their suspension on the amateur game remains in place, but there is talk of an update by next week. But that’s not to say amateur players have not been getting their fix.

Grounds may be shut but public net facilities have seen use, even un-mown squares in play for groups of three or more. Likewise, groups are still congregating in parks for games of football, as joggers tut while weaving within six-feet of every walker on the crowded footpaths. The “DO NOT USE” tape on outdoor gyms have sagged enough to step over. A handful of boxing gyms across London have even been operating covertly with regular, trusted clients. Indeed, everyone seems to be doing watered-down versions of what they can’t.

And among it all, finger-pointing: photos shared on Twitter of isolation breakers kicking a ball around, or even the shaming of members of the public working out in groups. All underpinned by “if I can’t do my thing, why are you allowed to do yours?” Those moans will only get louder.

Recreational athletes have long carried a sense of resentment towards one another. The rugby team who tear up the football pitch are a nuisance, but not as annoying as the football season spilling over and ruining the outfield for the cricket team, who can really grate when their balls from nets roll through a rugby pre-season session. It’s even worse in the clubhouse bar.

Yet as every sport desperately tries to claw back its place in society, one fragmented bit at a time, it is hard not to envisage this rift growing more pronounced, even in the sports themselves. Imagine the animosity now between the gym goer and the one who doesn’t go to the gym as much after that sense of superiority has been allowed to fester at home.

Cricket at amateur level is eager to return too (Getty Images)

Perhaps this is all the more reason why the announcement that sporting events can take place behind closed doors from 1 June will have a positive effect. The crossover of consuming sports as a spectator is broader than doing so as a participant, which will go some way to soothing the restlessness of lockdown. Having something to stay in for – beyond, you know, saving lives – may alleviate what jealously is bubbling away.

For professionals, the opportunity to return to specific training will be a welcome change after a diet of road runs, home gyms and Peloton bikes. Of course, their precautions involve science that cannot be replicated without the resources at their disposal, but they will also provide some solutions that can be implemented at the grassroots level too.

England cricketers, for example – working towards a possible 8 July restart for competitive action – will start training outdoors which could lead to the ECB putting together guidelines for amateur net sessions across the country, with expected restrictions on the size of groups and sharing of kit. Even if matches remain off the table until next summer, it will be a chance to reconnect to the sport and provide clubs with a potential revenue stream to keep them afloat in lieun of membership fees.

As with any kind of top-down approach, it will take a while for the majority to experience these benefits. But something is better than nothing, and after the lonely spring that’s been, cold comfort will have to do this summer.