How will the Sri Lankan Sports cope up the post Covid-19 and it was elaborated by Jaswar Umar, Secretary of Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) to Daily News at a discussion held recently.
Sri Lankan domestic sports have played a pivotal role in the entertainment industry up to a certain extent. During this period Rugby, Football and Basketball are some other games, which attract a considerable number of spectators to witness and cheer the local boys, played in a short time span.
Although these sport leagues are not professional, the fan engagement and attendance are quite high for these local games. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has made a serious negative impact in Sri Lankan soil, in particular with regard to local sports.
Sponsors, corporate and entrepreneurs are now in jeopardy to re-think about their involvement in investments in sports due their core business is affected and venues are subject to health restrictions. Gathering of fans at stadiums is banned. Players now fear to engage in physical contact games due to the tiny virus which has made a great impact and virtually changed the entire status-quo of the sports arena.
In the US, it has been estimated that the financial loss of $3.4 billion resulted in the first half of this year, due to the stoppage of their major sports leagues.
The future forecast reports that this amount might increase further to $9 billion, if the present lockdown situation continues to remain while the pandemic is in momentum.
In Sri Lanka many local sports bodies are now slowly striving hard to resume their practices and competitions. Cricket and Football have already begun their National Team training after obtaining the clearance from the relevant authorities with strict compliance, where the competitions are set to start in a couple of months. However, fans and spectators will not have the luxury to attend games as like in previous occasions, where they were able to witness the events without any hindrance.
The post Covid-19 surveys have resulted in a greater impact in people’s lifestyle. The results indicate that less than 20% of the fans will attend the outdoor games while less than 15% for indoor events. Majority of the society fear their safety and health. This indicates that post Covid-19 is definitely will have an impact on the sports sector and is likely to bring much lesser physical attendance in major sporting events.
The video and mobile streaming technology is likely to play a key role in bringing back the sports activities alive as normal in sports. Some massive investments have to be infused in such technological platforms seriously by sports bodies if they have to strive forward.
Jaswar Umar further suggested that there must be some ‘synergy’ between major sports associations in investing on the latest digital live streaming platform, that can bring all sports closer to fans. The Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) has also shown their interest in a collaborated effort and to investment in digital platforms.
If these national sports bodies work together on a common understanding and investment, all sports in the country will fall in line to put things back on track.
Under any difficult circumstances and disaster period, sports have played a major role to bring back societies to normal lifestyles.
All sports bodies have undergone tough times like the three decade post-civil conflict periods, post Tsunami period few to be named and it was the sports that played a pivotal role to deviate the public attention towards normal life.
Nevertheless, once again, sports must become one of the remedies to overcome the post Covid-19 period. This feat can be achieved only if the respective National Associations, Corporate entities and sponsors join hands together in a collaborative effort to rebuild and bring back life normal.
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