Halloween In March

Vancouver welcomes the world to BC Place for yet another Canada Rugby 7’s in what is called the “best sporting event” hosted in the lower mainland.

Spectators come from various areas of the lower mainland, some from the Island and others fight the Coquihalla from BC’s Interior.

The event itself has been nick-named Halloween in March”, by many in the area, but given concerns of the Covid-19 some were wondering if this event would see the light of day.

In conversation with some involved with the event they mentioned “The concern was naturally on the mind’s of everyone and naturally the main reason was that of safety,” which makes sense to everyone.

So the games went on and with all teams arriving the week prior, it was a week of training, public appearances as well as drug testing by the IOC.

The matches on the first day started at nine with each match consisting of two 7 minute halfs only allowing a short two minute intermission, which isn’t even enough for fans to refill their beers.

A concern to the organization committee was if the event would even happen, given the concern of the virus that is having an affect on various events throughout the world.

Until now the only other recent event cancelled due to the concern of violence following the death of an African American man while in custody was a MLB game in 2015.

We are hear that the Italian Government confirmed that all sporting events must be played behind closed doors until April 3rd. 

This has an affecting on England’s Six Nations matches against Italy in Rome and all of the games played in Series A following the country’s death toll from the carnivorous.

It’s reported that there is no real confirmation if the men and women\s  matches scheduled for March 14th and 15th will go as scheduled or not.

This naturally will have an effect on the economy of the country indicating that roughly 20,000 fans are unlikely to make the jaunt, unless the games are possibly postponed.

The NBA recently sent teams a memo to teams telling them to prepare for the possibility of playing games without fans and to identify only the essential personnel required  to be in attendance for games. 

Should any games need to be postponed or canceled, this can only come directly from the league office.

In addition to Soccer and Football, it’s interesting to hear that the Switzerland’s National Hockey League played in near empty arenas after Swiss authorities banned gatherings of over 1,000 people. 

Extending to another continent we are hearing for the first time (ever) in the history of the sport that the governing body for Sumo Wrestling recently cancelled a major spring tournament. and will now be played behind closed doors.

So if you were fortunate to attend the HSBC World Rugby Sevens consider yourself one of the lucky one’s who still enjoy your freedom.

One has to ask how long this will go on???