So the latest restrictions mean I can sit inside in a boozer with no real restrictions likely, but can't sit outdoors in the fresh air watching football. Brilliant joined up thinking there.
Oh, but you're forgetting the time limit on the pub visit. Just over 90 minutes, isn't it?
It's easy to be impatient, but the more stuff they reopen, the more likely that we'll have to row back on some of it. We've had over a year of this ****. Let's not get impatient just because the end is in sight. Another month or two should, short of a surge in cases, see a massive move back towards normality.
You can't spell failure without FAI
With the conduct of some GAA fans in Lockdown 1 and people gathering at LoI grounds more recently, be it inside or out, maintaining social distancing in a football ground is, or seen as a different challenge than a cinema or pub. 200 people could and should probably be able to attend games after the break as the logic above is sound, but football crowds are considered to be more likely not to comply with instructions than families at the cinema. The untouchable GAA was stripped of elite sport category (regardless of how it was spun) due to the conduct of clubs, counties and supporters for context. But I do think the numbers would be manageable, restricted to season ticket holders/members (is that fair?) so little doubt about traceability if needed - I do get that people could provide bogus names and address at pubs et al too (people dont want to end up quarantining so fake details used to thow off the scent), and one reason why debit card only purchases was on the table as a way to shore up proof of identity & not having to have people lose the plot by being asked to carry ID etc etc. Its just more straight forward to wait a month and have an additional 1.6m vaccinated people by HSE projections....yeah I know... even half that number by early July would put a massive dent in risk, and to dodge the curve ball cyber attack type stuff will help.
Last edited by Nesta99; 28/05/2021 at 12:38 PM.
Each thing we reopen carries some risk. The government isn't reopening things in order of least risk to most, but distorting that order to facilitate things that are popular or economically important, neither of which the LoI is. Going to the shop is riskier than sitting in a stadium, but I'm happy they prioritised my ability to buy food over seeing mediocre football. My point is that you can disagree with the order in which they're reopening things, but just saying A is riskier than B, so B should reopen first is a nonsense.
Cinema is incredibly popular here. Pubs are even more so. Hotels generate a lot of revenue and employment. The LoI? **** no. There's something on one of the news sites this morning about them looking into 25k at the All Ireland Finals, so it's not like they're not thinking about sport.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps and Cork City against Cabinteely on the 11th of June to be used as pilot events for the return of crowds,great to see some progress on this....
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Tallaght is probably the easiest ground to manage so Im not sure how a successful trial there is transferable to Oriel Park for example, unless its a ticking box exercise and what works at one ground passes all other grounds!?
I would have thought that having a pilot in a small and awkward ground might be more beneficial as if it works there then it can be easily transferred to the bigger grounds. At least there is some progress.
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