If Lions can’t roam free on tour then call it off | Shane Williams
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - JULY 08: Owen Farrell of the Lions kicks a late penalty to level the match at 15-15 during the Test match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the British & Irish Lions at Eden Park on July 8, 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
It seems we are taking one step forward and then a couple of steps backwards in the global fight against Covid and sport remains in the eye of the storm.
While the football Premier League battles with the question of whether or not to have a Welsh Government style ‘Firebreak’ to try to easy the mounting number of positive cases, and match cancellations, the rugby authorities are having to consider the viability of this summer’s Lions tour to South Africa.
I am a massive Lions fans. I’m due to go on the tour with a travel company and I can’t wait to see how the team shapes up against the reigning world champions. For me it is going to be the rugby highlight of the year. But can it realistically go ahead against a backdrop of rising infections and deaths in both countries and a new strain of the virus?
A decision was due to be taken in March on whether the Lions will travel but that might be brought forward to this month given the difficulties in getting the vaccines into people’s arms in the UK, Ireland and South Africa.
It is going to be a difficult decision to make, but it is one that has to be taken on safety, rather than financial, grounds. Professional rugby suffered terrible losses on the financial front in 2020 – and the players bore the brunt of that pain with 25 per cent pay cuts – but their safety has to be at the front, centre and back of everyone’s mind when the decision is taken on whether or not the tour should go ahead.
There are two other major considerations for me about the viability of the tour. It cannot just be a spectacle played out in front of the TV cameras. Lions’ tours are nothing without fans. It would also defeat part of the object of the Lions concept if the players had to swap their club bubbles in the UK and Ireland for a South African hotel environment out of which they could not engage with the people and the country. What makes Lions tours unique is the ability to soak up the rugby culture and scenery of another nation.
If the Lions aren’t able to roam free in South Africa, meet the people, take in the sights and prepare properly to face the best team on the planet then there is little or no point in them going. And without fans? Forget it!
That may sound simplistic, some may say naive, but if the Lions concept is going to survive it will need to be the whole package. As it stands, I don’t think I could turn to my wife and say I’m happy to go on the tour without having had the vaccine. The prospect of bringing home the virus with me after a month in South Africa and possibly passing it on to them, and the wider community, is a risk that isn’t worth contemplating. We all have to be responsible in our judgements, as I’m sure the Lions and South African rugby boards will be.
The Olympic Games was pushed back a year, yet the same pressure exists for the Tokyo and IOC organisers in 2021 as in 2020. Will it be safe, can it go ahead? They are talking about the costs for the Games in Japan rising to more than 15 billion dollars. Do they cancel, delay or go ahead and hope for the best?
The Lions will be going through the same arguments. I just hope it doesn’t come down to money and feeding the TV networks. The welfare of the players, management and fans should be the only consideration. Push back a year if needs be. We all want to see a Lions series against the Springboks, but in the best possible environment with full houses at their great rugby stadia.
