Football is back but not as we know it

THE German Bundesliga returned to action last weekend, the first of the major European leagues to resume following the suspensions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. The games were played behind closed doors with fans prevented from attending as part of restrictions that remain in place across most of the world.

In Germany they call such games “ghost games” and there’s no question that the atmosphere was eerie and surreal. Football without fans is a rather diminished and sorry spectacle.