Former skipper of the Indian National Football team, Bhaichung Bhutia has said that football can survive for a longer period of time if games are played in empty stadiums, unlike cricket. Bhaichung Bhutia also stated that football’s attractiveness will keep the people glued to the sport no matter wherever the fans watch it.
It is notable that due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, global sporting action had come to a standstill for almost two months. Now that the world is recovering, sports behind closed doors to ensure social distancing is a burning issue at the moment. Bundesliga, on Saturday, became the first European league to resume games.
Now Bhaichung Bhutia has opened up on his views regarding games being held behind closed doors in empty stadiums.
Bhaichung Bhutia Opens Up On Football Being Played Behind Closed Doors
“I think football will still survive behind closed doors,” Bhaichung Bhutia told IANS in an interview on Tuesday.
The ace striker from Sikkim opined that cricket might suffer behind closed doors, but due to the nature of football, it will remain attractive.
“I think for cricket, it’s going to be very difficult without spectators. Because football is an action packed game but cricket may suffer. Football…people won’t get bored as it will always be action. We have seen in Test cricket, when there is no crowd people don’t tend to watch,” said the 43-year old.
It Does Take Time To Adjust: Bhaichung Bhutia
“I did watch the (Bundesliga) matches. See it does take time to adjust with no spectators around. It was a bit weird but I think with time you will get used to it. But it’s good that we are at least getting to watch live matches,” Bhaichung Bhutia further said.
“It was quite boring. Atleast now we have live matches coming. So rather than reading only negative things all this while, it is a very good change,” said Bhutia, one of the finest forwards the country has ever seen.
Empty stadiums, distant celebrations, masked substitutes, and the sound of the ball piercing the net, that’s how European football marked its return when Bundesliga continued their campaign after a break of almost two months because of the coronavirus outbreak globally.