Football in a pandemic

Never expected that my dream of following the Gunners in person would be disrupted by a pandemic.  Plans to allow spectators back by October have been scuppered with fears of a second wave gripping the country.  But even under the original plans to allow a limited number of fans back into stadiums, I doubt I would have managed to get back to watching the team.  It involved a combination of luck and expense - you had to ballot for a limited number of games beforehand - so you might get tickets for a game that you knew you could not attend (Though you would be able to sell/transfer the tickets).

And with attendance limited in number, the ballot would prioritize current season ticket holders so there's zero chance of anyone else getting the tickets through this means.  Anyone else who wanted a ticket would probably have to pay a ridiculous amount - provided you even qualified to be a third party that was allowed to attend the game.  All very complicated.

The good thing, if you could call anything that resulted from the pandemic a 'good thing', is that the football authorities have reached an agreement with broadcasters to televise all games.  It does mean that they have to juggle the schedules as there are not enough channels to show games if too many kicked off at the same time.  It may present a challenge at the end of the season if the fates of clubs hinge on the results of other games.

(This is something fans back home wouldn't understand as Singtel has done well in at least one respect since the beginning - which is to create the required number of channels to televise live all games, even if they kick off at the same time - as they normally do on the last day of the season)

But just before our game with Sheffield United, I had a brainwave.  Why not recreate the experience of watching the games with my boys back home by using Zoom?  It was a great experience and wonderful that our first game 'together' was to see us win 2-1.  More of the same please, provided it's an early enough kick-off.

I hope that in time, I will be able to bring all of them to the stadium with me.  In the meantime, this is not a bad alternative to being home and watching it with them.