What they said – coronavirus has the sporting world talking

The vast majority of sporting action has been stopped due to the pandemic.

The sporting world has all but ground to a halt due to the coronavirus crisis.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the reaction on March 20.

“We must realise, that racing is entertainment. We take it very seriously, because we love it. But in the grand scheme of things, it is by no means essential. The health and well-being of our fans, our team members and society in general, however, is.” – Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insists staying healthy is more important than sport after the start of the F1 season was hit.

“Wash your hands you dossers.”– heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury had his own unique way of telling his fans to wash their hands regularly in an Instagram post.

“I’m expecting a season to potentially start in July, but it’s only potentially as we don’t know where this pandemic is going to go. I think they’ll look at getting The Hundred on and the T20 Blast. They’ll be the two priorities because of the financial implications to the game.” – Former England captain Alec Stewart tells BBC Radio 4 that the limited-over competitions could take priority in a curtailed domestic cricket season.

“I guess everyone is going to be watching because we’re the only football fix you can have, so it’s on us to keep people entertained. That’s what we have to do. It’s a duty of care to the game of football, and Australian football, really, and the A-League.” – former Premier League striker Adam Le Fondre tells PA how it feels to be playing in Australia as other leagues across the world are postponed.

“One cancellation led to another and then led to another and led to all this anxiety that I’m feeling. Now I’ve been social distancing for actually a really long time, for probably two weeks now, and every little thing makes me crazy.” – Serena Williams admits on TikTok that she is struggling with social distancing.

“There is a massive amount of cooperative planning going on between Super League, the RFL, the Championships and the clubs. I’ve never seen such coordinated planning activity. Obviously we’ve got to stay together. I think it’s a commendable teamwork operation that is going on within rugby league.” – Wigan owner Ian Lenagan praises rugby league’s collaborative approach.

“I’ve just been watching some daytime TV because there’s no sport on. I was watching This Morning with that married couple (Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford)… how they work together and live together I do not know. I’m going to have to lock myself up or book myself into a home, I cannot spend 24-7 with this lot, no way.” – former Burnley, Bury and Swansea player Lenny Johnrose, who suffers from motor neurone disease, told PA he does not know how he will cope self-isolating alongside his family.

“We think the most likely scenario is that we could start playing rugby again in September. If that were to be the case then this club will have no income for six months, literally no income. And our wage bill is around £1million a month. So it doesn’t take very long to explain that with £6m going out and nothing coming in on a business where last year we lost £2m, it doesn’t add up.” – Gloucester Rugby chief executive Lance Bradley explains the nuances of the financial impact of the coronavirus on rugby union to PA.

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