THE phrase ‘elite’ status was always going to create discord at some point among the local sporting community. While every sports club in the land is currently under house arrest, the Irish Premiership has been one of the few sporting pursuits allowed to continue during the pandemic.
Few people involved in sport would argue with its continuation, particularly now there is player and staff testing in place since the league’s two-week circuit-breaker expired last weekend.
Two dates stand out from a thoroughly miserable 2020 summer: July 17 and July 27. The first date was Gaelic football’s resumption after a four-month lockdown.
I was posted to cover East Belfast’s first-ever competitive game against St Michael’s Magheralin in Division Four of the Down leagues.
To be out watching grown men chase a ball around a field felt something like normal.
July 27 was the day Irish football returned from the Covid doldrums and the Irish Cup semi-finals were staged.
From high up in the Windsor Park press box a handful of socially distanced and masked-up media watched Glentoran beat Cliftonville on penalties and Ballymena United overcome Coleraine.
We were all glad to be watching something – even if it was in an empty stadium.
It was amazing to think the north had almost suppressed the virus back then. In order to safeguard a pathway for the Irish Premiership clubs to return to league action, securing 'elite' status was essential.
Strangely, 'elite' status wasn’t bestowed on the Championship clubs even though it is deemed a ‘senior league’ in the NIFL’s football pyramid.
Despite this, the expectation was once the Irish Premiership was up and running the Championship would get the green light too.
But then, the Covid rates began to soar and hope waned even more once December arrived. After several leading Championship clubs agitated for 'elite' status, it was granted by the IFA before Christmas but it was immaterial as it is now up to Stormont to give the go-ahead.
The chances of allowing another set of fixtures to run were slim given the new variant of the virus.
The ironic thing is the various Covid-compliant protocols currently being observed at places like Windsor Park, Seaview, Solitude and Ballycastle Road could easily be replicated at Ballinamallard United, Newry City and Institute FC.
It’s just one of a million anomalies that the government’s restriction rules throw up. Without fear of contradiction, the safest aspect of local sport is outdoors juvenile level – as outlined in this column before.
Children invariably don’t car-share to attend training, they have their own socially distanced water bottle stations, numbers on pitches are restricted, while every piece of equipment used is doused in sanitiser. There's more sanitising than actual coaching going on.
And while the 4G pitches remain padlocked, only a few yards away unsanitised play parks are jammed with parents and children mingling in small spaces.
Another anomaly is a polite way of putting it. Plain senseless is another.
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that either Stormont or the sporting bodies – or a combination of both – don’t trust their member clubs to comply with Covid protocol.
It certainly can’t be transmission rates among kids running in open spaces outside in a controlled environment.
Of course, these things are all about timing.
Anyone who has followed the unenviable position sports clubs find themselves in knows that now is probably the worst time to argue the case for a re-opening, especially with hospital admission rates off the charts.
The various sports bodies can shrug their shoulders and point to these worrying statistics, but it should not detract from the poor treatment the Championship clubs have received long before new variants became prevalent.
They were afforded crumbs from Uefa and the Lottery.
Why can’t there be the same level of investment in terms of testing kits for Championship clubs? Why only 12 clubs?
On all levels, these lower tiered football clubs have been an after-thought, akin to a blue-bottle buzzing around a room, agitating and annoying.
Nothing that a good swat wouldn’t sort out. Just to keep those damn rebels quiet.
Indeed, some of the louder Championship voices among them have been told to just turn the volume down a tad and do less media interviews. And, remember, we’re all in this together.
They’re told things are happening behind the scenes, that the case is being made away from the media’s glare.
The only problem with that narrative is that there haven’t been any tangible results to show for this quiet diplomacy.
So the house arrest continues and attendances at zoom training sessions start to slip.
The old adage that a newspaper never refuses ink and outspoken figures such as Institute manager Sean Connor – quoted in today’s edition – is heaven-sent for journalists.
But let's not lose sight of the fact that there is plenty of merit in Connor’s arguments, especially in pushing for a move to summer football.
For so many reasons it makes perfect sense – and there is a new, compelling argument too.
Who is to say another virus won’t emerge and flourish? Why not recalibrate, reconfigure and start again? Move to the warmer season where viruses don't like it as much.
The lack of meaningful challenge from the likes of the Irish FA and GAA in relation to blanket lockdowns has been a hugely deflating dimension of the last 10 months.
Yes, they’re receiving financial rescue packages from government to sustain them during these dark days but that should not automatically preclude them from arguing their case with more passion and tending to the game outside of the environs of the elite.
We all enjoy the Irish Premiership. It's an under-rated league. But there has to be more to life than watching it, going to the supermarket and going out for another stroll or jog.
When the hospital admission rates fall and our cherished elderly receive vaccination, the Championship clubs - each of them heartbeats in their communities - deserve to be applauded, for merely staying afloat through their own volunteerism and resilient spirit, with little help from above.
