WITH the government allowing the return of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), professional basketball and football are back.
As the title of today’s column suggests, I can only assume, guess and speculate what protocols and measures will be implemented by the two leagues.
Both are contact sports so it is incumbent upon the players to strengthen their immune system, take a lot of vitamin C and zinc, eat right, get enough sleep and train well to either get in shape or stay in shape. Some of these protocols may be patterned after practices implemented by leagues abroad like the National Basketball Association and the European football leagues.
According to latimes.com, at the resumption of the NBA, “The core health practices relied upon in these protocols are physical distancing and use of face coverings, hand and respiratory hygiene, reduced use of shared objects and spaces, rigorous cleaning and disinfection procedures, and regular health monitoring and diagnostic testing.”
The social distancing rules are strict. People at the Disney World campus in Orlando, Florida, where 22 teams will convene to begin play come July 30, could wear a device that sets off an audible alarm when they are within 6 feet of another person for more than five seconds. The league will also experiment with wearable medical technology that can monitor body temperature and blood oxygen levels.
According to straitstimes.com, in the English Premiere League (EPL), “Stadiums will be split into red, amber and green zones with the red zone to include 20 players, 12 coaching and medical staff and a further five “essential staff.”
Other measures include deep cleaning of corner flags, goalposts, substitution boards and match balls.
The straitstimes.com continues, “the guidelines put in place by La Liga for matches allow only around 270 people inside venues. All players are tested for the virus before games and will arrive wearing masks and gloves and have their temperatures checked before entering the stadium.”
Some of these measures could probably be temperature checks at the venue entrance, single entrance for venues, alcohol dispensers everywhere in the building and players, coaches, officials and executives tested weekly, maybe even daily.
Physical and social distancing will be imposed in the lockers and changing rooms. Players may have to bathe when they arrive. Teams might have to stay in one place and quartered near the playing venue. The PBA may want to try the Fiba format of having games three to four games in a day starting in the morning and ending in the evening.
Aside from their own protocols, look for the PFF to see how other leagues especially football leagues are doing with their measures and practices to further improve their own. The other leagues here in the country will be interested to see how the PBA and the PFF will implement their guidelines. Will both leagues immediately suspend their season indefinitely if, God forbid, one of the players gets infected? The NBA will resume its season whether a player or players get infected or not.
These two leagues will be setting the tone and the standard in protecting the many stakeholders under their respective umbrellas from an adversary we don’t know a lot about, an enemy we cannot see, taste, smell and feel.
One thing’s for sure, I’ll be pulling for both leagues to succeed despite the uncertainty.