DEHUMANIZING ATHLETES

We all miss sports and live sports. They were a source of daily or weekly entertainment for us and gathering every weekend with your friends to watch a sports match is something a lot of people looked forward to (at least the sports fans). The pandemic, however, has shown a new wave of dehumanization that these athletes have to face. Yes, they are humans who have achieved peak physical or mental ability and put their bodies on the line for the sport while we are sitting at home marveling at their ability to do and almost solidifying the idea that they are not human. A lot of people over the past few weeks have been calling for sports leagues to resume so that they have some sort of entertainment during this pandemic but if you think about it, you’re asking other human beings to put themselves in a spot where they could be at risk of contracting Covid-19 because almost all sports either have heavy contact of you in a space where you can’t practice proper social distancing.

Donald Trump recently called for a 200-member advisory committee that would formulate a plan to restart economic activities, among these members were the commissioner of all major US sports leagues and also Owners of Major Sports teams but they have no representation from any of the Players’ unions again continuing the trend of dehumanizing athletes. With multiple suggestions like making the players wear masks while playing or shortening the minutes that have to be played have been suggested. One suggestion that has been heavily opposed by the players especially by the players of the MLB, as this was a suggestion made by the MLB, is making all players of all the teams assemble and isolate at one big facility and make them play the matches according to the schedule, suggesting that the players have to spend the entirety of their time away from their family and stay locked in at a facility and all they can do is go and play their sport when it’s their chance to play. If you think about it, there’s an eerie feeling about this set up. A few recent conversations about sports also made it clear to me that we really forget that athletes are people too because the conversations basically ended with how we really want sports to start again and maybe taking certain precautions, they can be resumed but given the nature of sports, can we truly protect the athletes?

The German Football leagues (Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2) restarted this weekend after Germany announced that they have a good grip over the situation and hence this restart is viable. The Health Ministry provided the league with strict rules and regulations to follow to make sure that there is no outbreak of the disease. The matches are played behind closed doors so no fans are present at the stadium and the number of personnel that have to work in and around the stadium has also been drastically reduced. More security measures have been put in place for the safety of everyone involved. While their approach is most likely to work and the procedures they have put in place seem to be well worked out and foolproof, given the nature of Covid19 and the way it has manifested, there is no guarantee that a player might not be at risk or they might see a second wave of cases.

While a lot of fans rejoiced at this return and are now hopeful that other sports leagues can take similar measures to start having matches again, we really should reconsider how we look at athletes and remember that they are at the end of the day humans too and we need to make sure we don’t get carried away in our want for entertainment.

The NBA recently announced that they will be restarting the league following a new format just 22 teams out of the 30 teams playing in the new format. While this works for a league that does not have a relegation system, the teams that are being left out do miss out on certain broadcasting revenues and will continue to face losses till the next season. The main issue however, is the fact that all the players of the 22 teams along with the coaching staff and other logistical help staff will be made to stay at Disney world for the duration of these games that is from 31st July to October 12th. that is about two and a half months that the players will have to stay in Disney world and go through daily testing. Again, the players are being forced to stay away from their families for more than 2 months. This can have a great impact on their mental health.

The current situation that we are experiencing is something we only read about in history books and never expected to have to live through such a thing. people are suffering and the front-line workers are risking their lives trying to protect the people who are infected. they are overworked, underpaid, not protected well and among all of this, sports do not matter. I say that with a heavy heart but it is true. the front-line workers need to be treated better. this pandemic needs to be handled better. Players are humans and they need to be protected too. The pandemic has taken a mental toll on everyone and we don’t need to add to it. Players are humans. let them stay at home and let them protect their families and be there for their families. who wins the championship doesn’t matter, who wins what accolade does not matter. This pandemic is bigger than all of it and we need to work towards curbing the spread and helping the people on the front line.