World Rugby has postponed the entire programme of international matches scheduled for the 2020 July window - including Ireland's two Tests in Australia. Leinster legend Isa Nacewa believes the reopening of New Zealand and the return of rugby action there can be a blueprint for the rest of the world: "Sport can go ahead, which is a huge positive, and hopefully this is the blueprint to do it. So many people will be watching in hope that it goes smoothly and continues to be fluid in week 10 with a competition winner." In his latest coronavirus diary entry, Andrew Conway wonders when rugby returns, will he still be able to play it? "It will also be the longest off-season without an injury any of us will ever have had."
The Premier League has been told by the British government it must show some matches on free-to-air TV and put more money into the Football League and grassroots game as a condition for restarting this season. Patrick Madden asks If football resumes behind closed doors, is it really football at all? "Football is so much more than the 90 minutes played out on the pitch. Football is sensory – it's the smells and the sounds and the tastes, it's what you see and hear. Football is who you go with and who you meet. It's seeing the green pitch for the first time as a child and being hooked for life." Emmet Malone reports that the FAI believes that two full rounds of both Airtricity League divisions can be finished behind closed doors later this year for a total cost of €2.6 million - and if some sides decide to opt out that the others could go on without them.
When Eir sport acquired the GAA's archive rights in the last round of negotiations three years ago, it couldn't have been known that those old matches have become the only games in town since the scrapping of all sports because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sean Moran explains: "The problem that has arisen for national broadcaster RTÉ is that it has no access to archive, which dates back beyond 2017 . . . three years of material will make the remainder of the summer a tight stretch".
Meanwhile, when the PGA Tour resumes next month with the Charles Schwab Challenge at The Colonial Country Club in Texas, Ireland's European Ryder Cup captain Pádraig Harrington won't be involved. The little matter of only essential foreign travel being currently permitted out of Ireland means the Dubliner won't be flying any time soon: "Golfing-wise, I am enjoying what I am doing. I have been trying to change my putting routine which takes a lot of effort and I couldn't be doing that during competitive play. It's a routine that has been built over 43 years and I am trying to break it down in a few months."
Cricket Ireland has postponed the home summer fixtures against both New Zealand and Pakistan due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, while the dates for the three One-Day Internationals in England this September may also be moved. And the latest entry into our sporting controversies series sees Ian O'Riordan recall L'Affaire Festina - when the opening stages of the 1998 Tour de France came to Ireland and the spectacular Festina affair revealed the culture of widespread doping in cycling.
