Still, it has some positive sides, eg, for wildlife.
It has some positive sides for women’s rights as well.
NOS radio reports today that for the first time ever, women have been admitted as referees in (male) Copa Libertadores matches, the highest level international matches for South American football clubs.
At one match, there were supposed to be four male referees. But they all tested positive for coronavirus. So, referee Mariana de Almeida stepped in.
At another match, the same problem. Daiana Milone from Argentina solved it.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé has tested positive for corona. The attacker for the French national football team therefore misses the international match against Croatia.
Mbappé is the seventh PSG player who turns out to have coronavirus. Neymar is also infected.
The refusal of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball players to continue playing games as long as US police violence against black people continues has sparked a chain reaction in the United States sports world.
Last Sunday, Jacob Blake, a black man from Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot by police during his arrest. Blake was shot seven times in the back. It is the second incident this summer in which police brutality against a black citizen leads to riots in the US.
In the hours after the Bucks decision, baseball association MLB, women’s basketball association WNBA and football [soccer] association MLS announced that several games will be cancelled and tennis star Naomi Osaka announced that she will not play for the time being.
Osaka, who, as a child of a Haitian father and Japanese mother, feels strongly connected with the black population, also took a stand. “I am a tennis player, but primarily a black woman, there are more important things that deserve attention right now,” she said on Instagram.
The NBA also decided to cancel Wednesday’s two other games in the playoffs (Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers).
Also in the MLB (three games) and MLS (five games) was not played. Kelvin Leerdam, former player for Feyenoord and Vitesse and now active for Seattle Sounders, was outspoken on the matter. “As an athlete, you live in a bubble, but we wanted to show everyone that we see what is happening and that it affects us too. These are difficult times, but we have to take a stand.”
Two of the three games in the WNBA were about to start when it was announced that they would not be played.
For the WNBA game between Washington Mystics and Atlanta Dream, the players of the Mystics made a statement by wearing shirts with seven bullet holes on the back.
Ice hockey association NHL decided not to cancel the three scheduled play-off matches, much to the annoyance of Evander Kane, a black player of the San Jose Sharks.
He said on Twitter:
Actually it’s incredibly insulting as a black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgement from the @nhl, just straight up insulting. https://t.co/1KrpUvFhaQ
Japan’s Osaka, who grew up in the US, and earlier in the day won her quarter-final match at the WTA tournament in New York against Estonian Anett Kontaveit, announced after her match that she would not play in the semi-finals.
“I don’t expect much to change if I don’t play, but if I can start a conversation in this predominantly white sport, I see it as a step in the right direction,” said Osaka.
After Osaka’s decision, the organization of the Western & Southern Open announced that it has postponed all games until Friday. Whether Osaka will still play then is not known.
Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt is suffering from coronavirus. That supposedly happened last week when the former athlete celebrated his 34th birthday at his home in Jamaica. The guests did not wear mouth masks and danced to reggae singer Koffee’s hit Lockdown. Bolt decided a day later to get tested.
The Jamaican Ministry of Health announced the results after Bolt distributed a video. In it he said he was waiting for the results of a coronavirus test. “To be on the safe side, I’ve been quarantined and I’m taking it easy,” he said.
Bolt won gold in the 100 and 200 meter dash at the Olympic Games in 2008, 2012 and 2016. On social media fans wish him well.
Paul Finebaum and Laura Rutledge discuss how college football players testing positive for the coronavirus is leading to concerns surrounding the start of the season.
The exhibition game between the French club RC Lens and [Dutch Premier League club] Sparta Rotterdam is cancelled on Saturday. Two people at the Rotterdam club have been infected with the coronavirus. Sparta is following the advice not to board the bus with the entire selection for a four-hour trip to France.
A player was also tested positive for the virus at first divisionist SC Cambuur.
This 24 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ithaca College women’s soccer team stayed connected by passing the ball around the country – from New York to California.
Dutch NOS radio reports today that, after a player in Rotterdam Premier League football club Feyenoord had turned out to have COVID-19 infection, today a second Feyenoord player turned out to be infected.
Yesterday, he had played in the Feyenoord-Sparta training match.
This video is called Famous Footballers who have Coronavirus | Soccer players, coaches who have tested positive for COVID-19.
And that was a 29 March 2020 video. When the coronavirus pandemic was basically just starting.
Today, Dutch NOS radio reports that players of Dutch Premier League professional football clubs Feyenoord Rotterdam and Willem II Tilburg have become infected with COVID-19.
Today, Willem II was supposed to play a training match against amateur club IJsselmeervogels. That match has been cancelled.
Scotland: Men’s football Aberdeen v St Johnstone postponed due to coronavirus: here.
ANTIFA FOOTBALL TEAMS EUROPE. UNITED WE STAND AGAINST RACISM AND WHITE PRIDE. FUCK NAZIS. SEXISM SUCKS. ACAB. ANTIFA HOOLIGANS. GATE 9 ST PAULI MARSEILLE ULTRAS HAPOEL ULTRAS INFERNO WERDER BREMEN LIVORNO SEVILLA OMONOIA AC CHE GUEVARA
Meanwhile German second-tier outfit St Pauli remains a global lightning rod for the left’s football network, with fan groups across the globe from Buffalo to Belfast, and friendships with clubs throughout Europe, many of whom we have covered in this series.
Then there are less well known but equally passionate antifa fan groups around the world, from Standard Liege (Belgium), Adana Demirspor (Turkey), Virtus Verona (Italy), Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders (United States) and Tennis Borussia Berlin (Germany), to non-league clubs like Clapton in east London and Altona 93 in Hamburg.
Show Racism the Red Card’s latest original film: ‘We Can’t Breathe: How Eight Horrifying Minutes Lead to a Global Reckoning” explores Black Lives Matter in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and highlights the importance of education in eradicating racism and discrimination from our society.
In the United States, Black Americans are two-and-a-half times more likely to be shot and killed by police. Whilst in the UK, one-in-eight young black men were the subjects of stop in searches in London during the lockdown.
Systemic barriers still stand in the way of BAME people in Britain, and whilst George Floyd made people sit up and pay attention, there is still an awfully long way to go.
The Morning Star article continues:
The video also includes former Wales rugby player Colin Charvis and ex-England cricketer Monty Panesar and aims to teach people about the impact of George Floyd’s death.
Floyd died while being restrained by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 and it sparked protests across the world, with Premier League players taking a knee before games in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Members of Parliament and Black Lives Matter activists are involved.
Former West Ham and Newcastle goalkeeper Shaka Hislop is the charity’s honorary president and has joined protest marches himself in the United States.
He said: “The experiences [in the video] live out in real time and they weigh heavy. We took the decision, despite the pandemic, to go into battle in the nearest city where we live and join the Black Lives Matter march.”
Labour MP David Lammy contributes to the video.
Show Racism the Red Card chief executive Ged Grebby said: “We are dedicated to tackling racism and promoting change in society through education. With this short film, we’re hoping we can again contribute to a discussion around combatting rife racism in society.
“However more still needs to be done. As the recent events over the past couple of months show, racism is still very much alive around the world, and we stand alongside all those who are protesting against it.”
Dear Kitty. Some blog 