Premier League Looks To Restart Play

Many professional leagues around the world are looking to resume play after the suspension caused by the coronavirus. The latest league to release their start date is the Premier League.
The Premier League proposed a June 17 restart date, and now have approval from the government. There are plenty of changes that will take place for this to happen.
The first is goal celebrations. Players must abide by the social distancing guidelines after scoring a goal, which means no group celebrations.
Contact training has been on, and they have yet to have a positive test for the virus. The latest testing was the fourth round of twice-weekly testing, with players remaining negative for COVID-19.
There is an agreement that players can’t always follow social distancing guidelines while in play, but the government wants them to in all areas they are able. This also includes any disputes between referees and players.
“There is still much work to be done to ensure the safety of everyone involved,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said. “This includes consulting with our clubs, players, and managers — along with all our other stakeholders — as the health and welfare of our participants and supporters is our priority.”
Bringing In Viewers
The league usually only has games on subscription channels, but they agreed with the government for the restart. There will be several games that are broadcast for free.
The government wants people to stay away from the stadium without crowd congregating during the games.
“We need to ensure people don’t congregate around stadiums,” Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said at a Downing Street news conference. “I think fans will behave responsibly. I think the British people have shown real good common sense throughout all this. I am sure they will understand the need to watch at home.”
There have still been thousands of new COVID-19 cases each day in England. But the league has still agreed for the June 17 start.
Roster Discussions
They have determined that as long as there are four substitutes for the game, a team is fit to play.
“Well, as long as you have 15 fit players (including one goalkeeper) made up from either your 25-man squad list or from your under-21s you will be deemed to have a team fit enough to fulfill the fixture,” Brady wrote in a column in Saturday’s editions of “The Sun” newspaper.
Clubs will discuss shortly what is going to occur if a team cannot field a team of 15 fit players. A secondary spike of the virus also has to be taken into account.
The Premier League is now scheduled to end the weekend of July 25 and 26. This is two months longer than originally scheduled.
They will join the German soccer league as one of the only team sports to make the return after the halt in play caused by the coronavirus in March. This gives the betting community one more sport back to wager on.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of team sports returning around the world.