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.
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.”
Only 8 male football players have come out as gay. There can be extremely negative consequences for male footballers who come out. Mocking, insults: homophobia is widespread in men’s football, and that clearly explains why only 8 male players have come out as gay.
Far more than eight male soccer players have come out of the closet. The video should say ‘8 INTERNATIONALLY WELL-KNOWN PROFESSIONAL players’.
An open letter by a British gay Prime League footballer today:
As a kid, all I ever wanted to be was a footballer. I wasn’t interested in doing well at school. Instead of doing homework, every spare minute I had was spent with a ball. In the end, it paid off. But even now I still have to pinch myself when I run out and get to play each week in front of tens of thousands of people.
However, there is something that sets me apart from most of the other players in the Premier League. I am gay. Even writing that down in this letter is a big step for me. But only my family members and a select group of friends are aware of my sexuality. I don’t feel ready to share it with my team or my manager. That’s hard. I spend most of my life with these guys and when we step out on the pitch we are a team.
But still, something inside me makes it impossible for me to be open with them about how I feel. I dearly hope one day soon I will be able to. I’ve known since I was about 19 that I was gay. How does it feel having to live like this? Day-to-day, it can be an absolute nightmare. And it is affecting my mental health more and more. I feel trapped and my fear is that disclosing the truth about what I am will only make things worse.
So, although my heart often tells me I need to do it my head always says the same thing: “Why risk it all?” I am lucky enough to earn a very good wage. I have a nice car, a wardrobe full of designer clothes and can afford to buy anything I want for my family and friends.
But one thing I am missing is companionship. I am at an age where I would love to be in a relationship. But because of the job I do the level of trust in having a long-term partner has to be extremely high.
So, at the moment, I avoid relationships at all. I dearly hope I will soon meet someone who I think I will be able to trust enough. The truth is I just don’t think football is ready yet for a player to come out. The game would need to make radical changes in order for me to feel able to make that step.
The Professional Footballers Association say they are ready to help a player to come out. And they have said they will offer counselling and support to anyone who needs it. This is missing the point. If I need a counsellor I can go and book a session with one whenever I want.
What those running the game need to do is educate fans, players, managers, agents, club owners basically everyone involved in the game. If I was to make that step I’d want to know that I would be supported at each step of my journey. Right now, I don’t feel I would be.
I wish I didn’t have to live my life in such a way. But the reality is there is still a huge amount of prejudice in football. There are countless times I’ve heard homophobic chants and comments from supporters directed at no one in particular.
Strangely it doesn’t really bother me during the matches. I am too focused on playing. It’s when I get back on the plane or the coach and I have time to think that it gets to me. As things stand my plan is to carry on playing for as long as I feel able to and then come out when I have retired.
It was great last month to see Thomas Beattie raise his hand and admit to being gay. But the fact he had to wait until retirement tells you all you need to know. Footballers are still too scared to make the step while they are playing.
For the past year I have been getting support from the Justin Fashanu Foundation, not least to cope with the toll this is all having on my mental health.
It is hard to put into words how much the Foundation has helped. It has made me feel supported and understood as well as giving me the confidence to be more open and honest with myself especially.
Without that support I really don’t know where I’d be now. I know it might get to the point where I find it impossible to keep living a lie. If I do my plan is to retire early and come out. I might be throwing away years of a lucrative career.
But you can’t put a price on your peace of mind. And I don’t want to live like this forever.
Dutch women’s national team lesbian football player Vivianne Miedema, playing in Britain, says: ‘Gay male Premier League players, please come out of the closet. Even just one man coming out will help lots of other players’.
The Dutch football league president says that professional football club bosses stop gay players from coming out of the closet for fear of losing money.
FC Dallas OUT of MLS is Back: Commissioner Don Garber says the tournament will go on | ESPN FC
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber joins SportsCenter on ESPN the decision to send FC Dallas home ahead of the MLS is Back Tournament. Garber expresses the league’s emphasis on the safety of players and personnel and the effectiveness of the protocol inside their bubble in Orlando, Florida. He also says the tournament will go on as planned, beginning with the first-ever meeting between Orlando City and Inter Miami on Wednesday, July 8 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
FC Dallas has to miss the restart of Major League Soccer (MLS). Ten players of the Dallas club appear to be infected with coronavirus. …
The United States soccer league starts again … after a few months of no football because of the outbreak of the coronavirus. The MLS, which had only two rounds of play before the coronavirus interruption, is being completed in tournament form at Disney World in Orlando.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 