Paul Kent: why society needs the NRL amid COVID-19 pandemic
As the COVID-19 follow-on effects continue to spread through wider society, NRL resumption is a necessary distraction. And there is good reason it should writes PAUL KENT.
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A fair question is, why is the NRL not back playing already?
It is not a conversation many want to have right now. It seems unreasonable.
The world is afraid and fear brings retreat, and some in their dark panic are incapable of getting their head around playing sport in a crisis like this.
It takes no particular instinct to recognise this. It is everywhere we look, sadly, and you have to dig like a miner to find an alternative view from someone who is unafraid to be shouted down.
Gai Waterhouse gave another of her bright performances on Fox League Live last Friday and left viewers with two pearls.
The first was that Entente was a great each-way chance in the Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday. At $17 and with no wet form, it seemed Gai’s enthusiasm was its greatest asset.
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Some of us fell for the hype around Reloaded and so, as Entente led up the Randwick rise and Reloaded faded on his run, we could only stare at the semaphore board and groan, where was the footy?
Her second pearl was that without Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys the races would have shut down like most of the country had, and so she thanked him.
The racing industry has powered through the coronavirus pandemic. It raced across the five big states over the weekend. Only Tasmania was shut down.
Its determination to push on has caused no outbreak in the virus. Leave that to the cruise ships.
The racing industry has not been flippant to the perils. When jockey Mark Zahra told stewards he shared a flight with a coronavirus sufferer, an entire meeting was shut down and racing did not resume until Zahra was cleared.
Once cleared, the races were back on the next day.
Other sporting industries, driven by social acceptance, have been unable to withstand the external pressure.
It caused a mild warming of the temperature last week when, in the same show Gai was tipping winners, I said the hysteria around coronavirus was “overblown”.
Oh, didn’t that send the frightbats into mild hysteria. Social media assumed its usual position — outrage.
True, it was poorly explained. The immediacy of live television. But given the impact to the country, I stand by it. Yes, it is a global pandemic, and a serious health risk, but also a global news story.
This panic is driving numbers, which is driving the story, which drives the panic.
There were 5719 infected people nationwide, and 40 deaths, late Monday.
The 40 deaths, while tragic, are far less than the almost 1000 deaths Australia had last year from what is the common flu. Those deaths gained barely a mention.
So most of the country is shut down and the economy has almost stopped. Politicians are more terrified of the backlash than health.
On Monday Attorney-General Christian Porter said the JobKeeper wage subsidy would be passed on Wednesday because “six million Australian jobs depend on it”. Six million jobs … or more than a quarter of the population.
Elsewhere, the social impact is horrific. Lifeline is receiving more than 3000 calls a day. That is one in every 30 seconds. March was its busiest month on record.
More than 88,000 Australians called in crisis. Last week, 39 per cent of calls related to coronavirus. It was 23 per cent the week before.
A Lifeline spokeswoman said that the mental health toll “will be something of a scale we have not seen or experienced ever before”.
Simple maths shows that the rise of numbers of those scared, to the point they believe they need expert help, far outweighs the number of people actually infected.
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It is important to remember Lifeline is a crisis centre, not a health hotline for virus updates. Those calls came from desperate people.
Elsewhere, the follow-on effect continues.
Police are seeing a jump in break-and-enter crimes as criminals realise many business premises now sit empty.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said police had seen “minor increases” in domestic violence.
People are struggling. The NRL is a necessary distraction, like other sports.
And there is good reason it should resume.
When round two started on Thursday, March 19, there were 353 cases in NSW, including 86 new ones that day. The following night, another 83 fresh cases brought the NSW total to 436.
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The curve was rising.
The NRL’s pandemic expert then told the league she expected a spike and the NRL believed it had no choice but to shut down.
On Saturday, when Entente won the Carbine and Reloaded left a few desperates short, there were 87 new cases. On Sunday, there were 57 fresh cases.
The numbers are going down. Not every day, but such is the overall trend.
There is good reason for the NRL to be back running again. It is not just to do with footy, or the indulgences of sport.
The benefits are many, and spread wider than we think.