In a perfect football world, the Premier League would be entertaining us this weekend with Manchester United taking on Bournemouth, Tottenham travelling to Goodison Park to slug it out with struggling Everton, amongst several other high-profile fixtures happening across the country. Oh, and of course, the Derby D'Italia (AC Milan vs. Juventus) would be happening in Italy too.
Most domestic leagues would be approaching the end of their seasons, and our dear Liverpool would most likely have been crowned the champions of England (even though they wouldn't have gotten a golden crown; Watford effectively saw to that before the pandemic).
Oh, and our beloved league of champions (the UEFA Champions League) would be entering its latter stages too (semi-finals), possibly with Barcelona, PSG, Juventus, and Bayern Munich (no offence to Atletico Madrid - they did well against Liverpool). Perhaps we would be looking forward to a Messi/Ronaldo reunion at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium come May.
Sounds delightful, doesn't it?
Unfortunately, our football world is far from being perfect at the moment, thanks to the threat of an unseen and dangerous opponent called COVID-19.
Because of this unseen adversary, all April action, our beloved UCL finals, and the highly cherished FA Cup have all been suspended until God knows when.
In fact, the current reading on the Global Stadium scoreboard now reads COVID-19:0-Football. Such is the state of football at the moment. Our beloved sport is losing this battle!
The world needs football to halt
While we all agree that football is such an important part of our lives, we cannot deny the fact that there are so many other things that are even more important, like our health, survival, and recovery. And in the face of the ongoing pandemic, all of that seems like a long shot. Consequently, football has been sent to the dugouts, or home, in some cases.
But what are football lovers doing to pass the time?
It's pretty simple; everyone is now keeping their distance (social distancing), pacing up and down their apartments, and washing their hands every 25 minutes. For now, everybody accepts that there is no football. Mother Earth needs to heal, and while it heals, football needs to sit in the locker room and await its substitution hour.
If you really believed that that's all football lovers have been doing, then you really are not one. Just like the players in the sport, the fans don't back down, even when their backs are against the wall.
Even though they've lost their sport, there's one thing many football fans haven't lost - their sense of humour!
Memes, videos, and jokes are rampant on social media. One oft-shared Facebook video shows an array of bottles painted in the famous red and white colours of Arsenal and the red and black colours of Manchester United, and with the UEFA Champions League theme song blazing in the background - two clubs that are currently plying their trade in Europe's second-tier club competition, the Europa League. The joke was meant to troll the fans of Man United and Arsenal and to remind them that even though we're all missing football at the moment, the things we miss about it are different.
Another joke making the round on the internet is a quarantine journal entry: "Day 3 without sports. Found a lady sitting on my couch yesterday. Apparently, she's my wife. She seems nice."
Some football betting enthusiasts in Vegas even posted a video showing how life without football has been for them. Although at the latter part of the video, they offered a word of advice to other sports gamblers around the word. The caption: even if you cannot bet on football, go to Sbobet and bet on other things. While you miss your sport, don't miss the chance to make money.
Another meme shows still shots from a Netflix series about Pablo Escobar. The photos show an extremely depressed-looking Escobar (Narcos actor Wagner Moura) with his head tilted down, staring below him while on a swing, at the table, and in an empty swimming pool. The caption "Life without sports."
But while some fans have been using social media to cope and pass the time, it hasn't been so easy for some others. For some hardcore fans like Audrey Chalet, a receptionist, and an accomplished fitness coach, the struggle hasn't been a joke. According to her, her teenage son Talmage has been struggling seriously, and her husband Jeremy has just been trying to survive.
Bottom Line
Football fans have missed football so greatly that they would trade just about anything to see a football match come up on their screen again. Even if it's Portsmouth vs. Shrewsbury Town, they wouldn't mind. But, of course, the wait has to continue.
But while we wait, you can join the touches of humour on social media or get some old football match replays (if you're an Arsenal fan, a clip of the Invincibles lifting the title at the ground of noisy neighbours Tottenham should send some chills down your spine).
And in Jim Beglin or Peter Drury's voice: "Hopefully, before you finish that clip, football will be back!"
