Transcripts For BBCNEWS Sport 20200607

It is amazing for us that everyone around you has done an amazing job. I think everyone was excited to get back going again. It is the news fans across the world have been waiting for. The premier league is set to return. Football is an important thing to lots of people. I have missed it, i cant wait to watch the matches. When the alternative is not to play at all, i want them to play anywhere you want, if it is on mars to be honest. For the west indies is to still come over here, they are obviously helping the game massively. I think the whole cricketing world will be grateful to see some cricket. Welcome to the programme. The wait is over. We have seen the return of live sport in britain in the form of racing and snooker. Very soon, elite cricket, formula 1 and football will be back. But there are still many Unanswered Questions before that happens. To help with that we have our Sports Editor with us along with sports news correspondent laura scott. Plus we have our cricket reporter henry moran. Plus, we have our cricket reporter henry moran and drjeremy rossman, a lecturer in virology at the university of kent. A very warm welcome to all of our guests and the first question is for dan. It comes from a viewer. Hello. My name is max and my question for you is, if before a game in any professional sport, a player tests positive for the coronavirus and his team mates do not test positive, will the match be abandoned over fears of transmission . Thank you. Thank you, max. That is for you, dan. Its one of the big question is, max, that sport faces of course, as it prepares to resume. What would happen in the event of positive tests . The short answer is no, it doesnt necessarily mean that any fixtures have to be cancelled. Public Health England have drawn a distinction between what would happen in the event of positive tests at the workplace, and what would happen in the home. So if a footballer for example tests positive, and we have seen a few have already during training, then they and members of their household have to self isolate for seven days. But not their team mates, as long as they dont test positive in the time that follows. Now, there is a bit of uncertainty over what exactly would happen once matches begin. But i have spoken to the premier league and they are confident their protocols allow for public Health Englands definition of what constitutes close contact, the worry would be that certain team mates would have been in close contact and they would have to self isolate, but the premier leagues feeling is that contact during training sessions, even though it has contact training, and indeed during matches, is so fleeting, so momentary its not on the sort of sustained 15 minute period that is defined by public Health England as being close contact that it would not be deemed necessary for other players to isolate as well. I think these cases will be treated individually on a case by case basis and it may well be that once Contact Tracing is properly up and running, test tracers have a different view and they argue that team mates of the player have been in close contact and therefore have to sit it out, for a certain amount of time. But the premier League Points to the fact that after five rounds of testing, there have only been 13 positive cases. They think thats a really encouraging start to the Testing Programme and they do not believe that if and when players test positive, once matches resume it shouldnt necessarily mean the other matches, the whole match is derailed. I would just urge a word of caution. If there were to be a spike and a squad was infected in a significant way, that would have course put a huge question over a match or indeed a number of matches and may well be that the premier league has to convene an emergency board and suspend the season. But that is a worst case scenario. This next question is related. From jamie. He asks. Being able to make five substitutions rather than 3 for player welfare purposes, that i understand very much a temporary measure and is expected to revert back to how it has been in the past once this season is over. But being able to have nine substitutes on the bench rather than seven i am told that may well remain in the future and that has been talked about already. I think it depends on what measure. The use of neutral venues is another measure i think that would only be for the remainder of the season. Of course, depending on what the wider system is and the wider state of play when it comes to the pandemic. Thank you, dan. This next one is for laura. From madison. She asks. Its a good question, madison and it is something the premier league are currently preparing guidance on four clubs we understand the clubs will get those pretty soon. Because the restart is less than a fortnight away. Clearly that will be part of the return to play protocols and the players will have to adhere to them but if we look to what happened in europe, we have seen a lot of players opting for the elbow bump as they former celebration. 0pting for the elbow bump as their former celebration. 0thers celebrating alone. But we have seen instances where players have hugged during goal celebrations but we wait to see what the premier league has decided to do on that front. Lets bring in our virologist, doctorjeremy rossman at this point for a couple of specific questions about the virus and how it might affect sport. Jonathan asks. Its a very good question. And this is because the testing is not as accurate or as sensitive as we might like. Because if you are at a very early stage in the infection, you might only have a little bit of virus present in your body. The test isnt quite sensitive enough to pick up just a very low level of virus. So maybe later in the day, you could end up transmitting that virus to somebody else or the next day you could transmit it even though that morning for instance, you tested negative. So we have this window where you might actually in the future become transmittable and so we just have to have that extra level of precaution of seeing just in case you still have a little bit of virus that we did not detect, were going to take some physical distance, were going to use some of these precautions as a back up measure. Erring on the side of caution, isnt it . Nawshad asks. Its absolutely possible, but not right yet. Right now the number of cases in the country is far too high. The risk of transmission and spread throughout the country, especially with fans travelling to get to the event, the risks are too great. But many other countries that are further along in their epidemics and pandemics and responses have seen case numbers drop dramatically low, to the level where they really dont have any local transmission. Most of the cases are coming from other countries and travellers. If the uk gets to that point in time, then it is very possible to have fans in the sort of modified sense we still want to have some precautions, probably still have physical distance and, reduce the number of spectators, may be close some of the shops and the vending and encourage face coverings. But if we get to that low level of cases, then it might be possible. But its a wait and see event and we just dont know how its gonna go. Thank you so much for your insights there. Staying on the subject of fans, ever next your question is for dan. Hallo, chris from folkestone. I was just wondering what happens if fans start to congregate outside the ground when the games are on . Have the premier league looked into cancelling lots of games if this happens . Clearly it would be a major reputational blow to the premier league if fans were to gather in any great number outside grounds once the action is back under way and it has been one of the thorniest issues of course of the league and the clubs discussing in recent weeks, whether or not to use mutual venues. The clubs seem to have won the argument with members of police and authorities, they believe that can be avoided. I think theres a number of reasons why they are confident. Firstly they feel clubs through their managers and players can appeal to fans and have some sway and give the authorities the best possible chance that supporters can be deterred from turning up. Secondly, they look abroad and the experience overseas. For example, the bundesliga where there havent been these problems and they see no reason why they should occur here either. Also of course all of the matches, all 92 of them will be televised live and a significant number of them, 33 in fact will be free to air. So that should also deter fans from congregating outside venues. And i think finally there is a feeling that in the premier league while there have been some instances and you have seen the pictures of people congregating at parks and beaches when the weather has been good, the lockdown has been pretty well observed over recent months. And i think that has given the league some confidence that once football begins, there wont be any problems but there is no doubt that if there were to be large scale congregations of fans outside grounds, once the action is back under way, that could jeopardise the whole of the project restart so it is very high on that and i think it imperative that doesnt happen. Lets hope not. Thanks, dan. Our next couple of quick questions for laura. The first one is from josh. Josh wants to know. Well, josh, this is yet to be decided. The premier league clubs will need to vote on this transfer window. If you remember, they had voted to change it again this year from last year. So they will have to vote on that. We are unclear as yet what date that vote would be. But you would imagine it might be after the end of the season, but this is a hot topic. One which clubs will be keenly aware of but will have to vote on that and we dont have an answer on that one yet. Lets see if you have an answer on this one. From francis, he asks. The plans at the moment with uefa are for the Champions League and Europa League to finish in august. The final was meant to be in istanbul of the Champions League but we understand that although that is still on the table, there could be a move to another city. We know cities in portugal and germany are being considered. And actually, they could change the whole format of the culmination of the Champions League and Europa League. We are in the last 16 stage at the moment. What they could decide to do is have single legged ties for the last eight and final four. And play a sort of tournament in one city to finish the tournaments. So it could be run over a 10 day period but, in terms of next season, obviously Everyone Wants know when that will start. Still yet to be decided in the premier league but it is looking like it could be late august, early september. Thank you, laura. Lets spend a few minutes answering some of your questions on cricket with our reporter henry moran. We know that englands test series against the west indies is going ahead injuly. So this next question is on that from one of our viewers. Hello. My name is annette. I would like to know from your experts how i can watch the test series, please. Will it be broadcast on terrestrial tv or sky only . Will future International Games be televised too . You might have seen the news this week, the bbc for the First Time Since 1999 will be showing cricket. 0n bbc television, there will be highlights every day of one Day International cricket that is played, also test cricket across the summer, starting with test series between england and the west indies from july the 8th. Bbc two, 7pm is a time to look out for for that. Michael vaughn, sir alistair cooke, some of the names that will be involved in that coverage. Also ball by ball coverage on the radio from test match special and comprehensive online reports as well on that bbc. For live tv coverage, that does remain a subscription service. Looking forward to that back on the bbc. Henry, those test matches, quite interesting going to be played in what is described as biosecure venues. K anand kumar wants to know. He is not the only one. Its a good question, it has been a bit of a hot topic. These are the words that are being used. As these discussions are taking place. I think the best way to describe it is sort of like a cricket island. The way these venues have been chosen is because they have hotels on site. So you can contain the entire operation, teams, media, operational staff, all on site and keep things nice and contained, that way it means you can play a test match or in the case of old trafford, back to back test matches and keep everybody on site and ensure that once people are in it reduces the potential risk that there could be of any cases of viral coming into that bubble if you like and of course there will be plenty of testing within to make sure everybody stays safe within the bubble. But it is worth pointing out quite how much work the ecb have done on this and looking at some of the reports, the suggestion is that a typical test match day, in normal times would have about 1500 people on site just to get the match going ahead. Theyre looking at about 300 to make things work for the test series we have coming up between england and the west indies. Serious work to get this to happen that i think everybody in the world cricket is just relieved that at this stage it looks like that will be going ahead. A lot of logistics involved there. Isnt there . Next up, another viewer question for you. Listen to this. My name is anthony and my question is this. Will home umpires be used in the series against the west indies this summer . For the first time in years or will neutral ones be brought in . Its a very good question and it is one which is being debated in the last ten days or so. The icc Cricket Committee, that is a body made up of some of the great and the goods of the game. Based in dubai they have had this Virtual Meeting to go through some of these issues that will come up inevitably. Over the next few weeks and months as cricket has evolved to get through this difficult and unknown time. One of those issues of course is umpires. And since 2002 we have had a situation in cricket where neutral umpires from an elite panel from the icc have been selected to be in charge of each of the matches played. The icc Cricket Committee, what they have recommended, given the challenges with travel and quarantine, they have choice and that teams will have to have a home umpire for their home test matches. Its worth pointing out that the moment already, before covid i9 arrived and the changes to into play, t20 and 0di had the provision for home umpires to be involved and in the middle and so this would not be completely uncharted territory. And the icc appoint the umpires and do have the ability according to the Cricket Committee and what they have suggested that should the situation arise that they could appoint non neutral umpires to take charge of these test matches. A final one for you, henry, from ben who is a sussex blast pass holder. He wants to know. It is a good question and it is one of those at the moment that is a bit of a wait and see. The ecb have been focused so much on this early summer cricket, the test series between england in the west indies and now that and now that the dates are in place for that, perhaps they can start looking towards what might be later in the year. We know there will be no professional cricket before august ist, domestically. That is for sure, that has been announced by the ecb. In terms of the domestic cricket, the focus has been stated by the governing body, will be on the t20. That limited Overs Cricket because that financially is what supports the counties in many ways and the focus will be on that if they cant play domestic cricket, that is the cricket that will be played. Whether there will be spectators is another question of course and that is going to be one i should think will follow other sports and all those questions we have been discussing so much over the last few weeks and months. What i would point listeners and viewers towards is looking at the ecbs guidance on things like refund and what they see at the moment is that everyone with tickets for matches later in the year to sit tight, wait to see how it all pans out with the various ideas and schedules that may come into fruition and wait for counties to get confirmation of how that will work. At the moment its a bit of a case of waiting to see how things play out but certainly they are looking at what can be done to get some domestic cricket later in the year. Thank you so much for your analysis. Lets bring laura scott and dan back in. Laura question on horse racing for you. Race meets back under way as we have seen. Sioux asks. The protocols for vets and doctors are pretty strict. The medical staff on race courses have to wear medical grade personal protective equipment. That is what you would expect to see if youre being treated at hospital. For the vets, they are having to wear face coverings and actually most vets wear gloves for a lot of their work. With those screens you see vets holding for stricken horses, or indeed jockeys, those are actually quite big and tall so they dont actually need people Standing Shoulder to shoulder but those green screens are being used to treat people on the course. And ppe is being used by a lot of people on racecourses because there is an understanding that there are some roles where social distancing just isnt possible. We have a question from john as well who wants to know. John, i think its highly unlikely. At the time they did not use the phrase cancelled, but the grand national is in a specific slot in the season for a reason. A lot of the horses that aim for that race, their whole seasons are geared towards that. If you moved it to a different time of year, you might have different ground, heavy ground because of the winter. That would pose safety issues. I think its highly unlikely they will do that because its clearly such a significant sporting event, always in april so i think its highly likely we willjust have to wait until 2021 to see the next grand national. Laura scott, thank you very much for that. A final question for dan. Can you just explain how big a month this is for sport in the uk . Quite simply its one of the biggest months there has ever really been in the history of professional sport in the country. Its going to mark the re emergence from its enforced hibernation over the last few months since sport went into total lockdown really, in the middle of march, there is a huge amount at stake. Both financially but also i think in terms of the reputation of sport. We have already seen it begin with racing and snooker for example and in the next few weeks, football and test match cricket and f1 as well. If it goes to plan and these sports can demonstrate they can make a success of this, then it is a huge boost to their future prospects and hopefully in the coming months you will see fans back inside stadia and the ground and having spoken to the premier league chief executive i know that there is a real hope now that if the Wider Community pandemic can be controlled, you will see spectators back inside football grounds for example as soon as next season, perhaps in a phased way and already you are seeing that happen in other countries. For example in hungary there is already fans back at football grounds and places like poland and russia tend to do the same. But if doesnt go well and there are ethical questions like safety and if it is seen to not be run well, in whatever way, then of course it could spell problems ahead. But i think as we were saying in the last few minutes, a lot depends notjust in the way sport handles the situation but the wider state of play becomes, and as we have seen, in certain regions in the uk, this r number is now at the all important i level and if that was to get worse of course it would jeopardise sport plans. So its a reminder of just how precarious and fragile the situation is. A huge amount at stake, its very exciting to see sport back but it will be very anxious time as well. Thank you, dan. We hope that that has all been helpful to you. My thanks to dan, laura, henry and doctorjeremy rossman. With the resumption of many sports we love just over the horizon, so much has to be taken into consideration. But the governing bodies of every elite sport in the uk has at its core the health and safety of all involved as a priority. Thanks very much for watching, stay safe, goodbye. Hello there, it is likely to stay on the cooler side of things over the next few days. Chilly today in that northerly wind and if you are underneath this thick cloud here and that cloud brought most of the rain today, there has been a few thundery downpours in the far south east and a few sharp showers have developed across parts of the west midlands, wales and into the west country. Although showers are going to fade away. It is turning dry over night tonight, the wins will be dropping as well. Where we have clearer skies in scotland and the north east of england, temperatures in rural areas easing down to three or 4 degrees. Elsewhere with more cloud, around eight to 10 celsius. The prospects are better for the start of the new week, it will be much drier, brighter and the winds would be a strong either. That is because we have got this note of High Pressure building in across the uk and for a while, it will keep those with a at bay. So, many places will have a dry day tomorrow, won a two light showers coming in off the north sea onto some coastal areas and in the afternoon, we could develop some slow moving heavy showers across wales and the south west, but a lot of places will have a dry day. Some sunshine at times, temperatures similarto sunshine at times, temperatures similar to those of today so again, on the goal side, could be 17 or 18 across more southern on the goal side, could be 17 or 18 across more southern parts of england and wales. Into tuesday, on the face of it looks like its been quite a cloudy day, 12 showers around but most places will be dry. Away from the north west, in North Western areas it will turn wet in the day. Again, head of that, those temperatures will be similar so those temperatures will be similar so 16 or 17 degrees. The weather sta rts so 16 or 17 degrees. The weather starts to change around the middle pa rt starts to change around the middle part of the week, we have that weather front moving its way southwards across the uk and we end up southwards across the uk and we end up with falling pressure as well so much more unsettled on wednesday. More cloud around and maybe a band of rain moving down towards the south east and whilst it will brighten up further north, these showers that develop could turn out to be heavy and thundery, particularly in scotland and perhaps into Northern Ireland as well and if anything, temperatures a bit slower on the hole on wednesday because of all that and rain around. 0nce on the hole on wednesday because of all that and rain around. Once that low pressure arrives, it is dipping its way southwards, it looks like it will stick around into thursday and perhaps friday as well. So, towards the latter part of the week, we will find some rain, particularly across england and wales, also a strong easterly wind. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Thousands of protestors have joined anti racism demonstrations in cities in the uk. In bristol, protestors pulled down a statue of a 17th century slavetrader. The statue was then rolled through the streets before being dumped in the harbour. The home secretary calls the actions of those protestors unacceptable. Speaks to the acts of disorder, public disorder, that actually, have now become a distraction from the cause in which people are actively protesting about and trying to empathise and sympathise with. In london, police and protestors are currently facing off in whitehall. This is the scene live. After a night of peaceful protests in washington,