Premier League, Premiership and BBL players have a responsibility to their game...and to society - Nick Westby

Namely, those that abuse the free pass they have been given, the sportspeople – principally footballers – who host New Year’s Eve parties like some Premier League players did (Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy, pictured), or jet off on a holiday over Christmas like a handful of women’s Superleague players chose to do.

There is another phrase, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, that is apt for the sports stars offered the chance to carry on life while the rest of us work from home, risk infection on a building site, or far more stressfully, serve on the NHS/care services front line.

The power of their privileged position bears a responsibility to act with dignity and integrity.

You could even go as far as flipping that phrase: ‘with great responsibility comes great power’ – the responsibility to the people and the power to entertain and distract them from the black cloud that currently hangs over everyday life.

However you couch it, the professional sportsmen and women who have been granted the freedom to continue competing, playing, earning and expressing themselves as athletes, are in a blessed position, and every time one of them digresses, it is a kick in the face to those who choose to live by a new set of rules.

It is also an insult to the sporting authorities who are bending over backwards to keep their product on the field.

Especially now in the EFL where the Professional Footballers’ Association have pledged £5m to ensure all 72 clubs can test their players for Covid-19 on a twice-weekly basis.

If they were to find out that Player A from Team B in the Championship had a party at the weekend with half his team-mates and their partners invited, and then Monday morning all of those players test positive for the virus, then the PFA would be well within their rights to feel badly let down by those players and their team. They may even want their money back.

Football, rugby union and basketball – the three team sports currently granted permission to continue competition despite the country being in its tightest coronavirus lockdown since last March – are already suffering from the effects of outbreaks of the virus.

The FA Cup third round weekend, traditionally one of the more noteworthy weekends of the entire sporting year, was a pale imitation of its usual self due to no crowds in the tiny, intimidating non-league grounds and a whole host of clubs having to field players from their Under-23 and Under-18s team because Covid was rife within the first-team squad.

Northampton Saints versus Leicester Tigers was the pick of the rugby union Premiership fixtures scheduled for this weekend, but that game was postponed as early as Wednesday due to an outbreak at Northampton.

Sheffield Sharks’ game at Cheshire Phoenix last night was postponed and the British Basketball League last week took the unprecedented step of appointing a medical officer to ensure best Covid-19 safe practice for the health and well-being of players and staff.

In short, clubs and governing bodies have enough on their plate trying to shield their marketable assets from the virus, without having to worry about said assets going rogue and letting down the whole side.

If they think of straying, then they would do well to watch the news that evening to see the rising death toll, the overcrowded hospitals and the overworked staff, and think again.

Or think of their fellow sports men and women – the footballers of Scarborough Athletic whose season has been halted again and might not resume; the rugby league players of Castleford Tigers Women who have not played for 12 months and are unlikely to get started any time soon; the rugby union players of Leeds Tykes who do not even have a start date; or the ice hockey players of Sheffield Steelers who are having to leave the families at home and go abroad in search of playing time.

Think of the recreational sports men and women.

Each and every one of them would no doubt swap places with you in a heartbeat to get playing again, to have the opportunity to contest their sport and break up the monotony of lockdown.

So it is time for our sporting stars to take some responsibility. We are not asking much, just the same sacrifices we are making to our everyday lives; restricted visiting of family and friends, little or no socialising.

In return, you get to carry on playing and carry on entertaining us.

Because any more indiscretions and you place billion-pound industries like Premier League football in danger of grinding to a halt again.

The Premier League, the EFL, Premiership Rugby and the British Basketball League are of a mind to plough on at the moment.

If Covid-19 strikes at a club, postpone a couple of fixtures, move them to the back of the schedule and worry about them later.

Stopping leagues – or even implementing a multi-week circuit-breaker – is not an option right now. Too much money is at stake from broadcasters, particularly when it comes to the Premier League.

So clubs, leagues and associations need co-operation and understanding from those people that matter most – the players.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.