Shamrock Rovers are to seek clarification from Uefa regarding their Europa League qualifier against Ilves Tampere next week after Finland imposed new coronavirus-related restrictions on people arriving into the country from Ireland.
As a result of the rise in the infections, Ireland is one of 10 countries whose status has been changed this week by the Finnish authorities. Those arriving into the country from any of the 10 named are required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Rovers would not be affected themselves by the announcement as the game, which is scheduled for next Thursday, the 27th, will be played in Tallaght but it is unclear now whether the Finns will be able to travel given the likelihood that they would be subject to the restrictions when they return home.
In the event that they won for game, for instance, they would not be able to play in the following round unless given the sort of exemption that the Irish national team is expected to receive in order to allow it play its Nations League game in Bulgaria on September 3rd.
That has been the subject of extensive negotiation, however, with stringent conditions applying and it is not expected that clubs sides across Europe would be able to widely avail of such exemptions from public health regulations.
At the start of August, Uefa issued regulations relating to this season’s club competition qualifying rounds and allowed a brief window after the draws were made for ties, which are to be settled by one of games because of the Covid-19 situation, to be moved where necessary.
Rovers’ belief is that where a government of one of the two countries involved changes their regulations after that window closed then it is their club that loses out if it unable to fulfil the fixture. They are, however, seeking to confirm that interpretation as Uefa does retain the right to move a game when it deems that to be necessary and the Finns may request that a neutral venue be used.
Derry City’s game next Tuesday against FK Riteriai also seems to be in doubt after Lithuania also took both the Ireland and the United Kingdom off what is effectively their ‘green list’ thus requiring people travelling there to quarantine for two weeks too.
In this instance it would be the City squad who would be affected but the change has been made by the Lithuanian authorities and the club here say that they will work on the basis that the game is going ahead as planned until told otherwise.
Stephen Bradley, meanwhile, has expressed what is almost certainly a very widely felt frustration over the changes to regulations announced on Tuesday and how they apply to sport.
The government announced that all sporting events will have to take place behind closed doors for at least the next four weeks and strict restrictions on numbers have been applied to training. Exemptions are to be made for some elite level teams but clubs are still waiting for clarification on how the new rules will be applied.
In the meantime, Bradley seems to believe that the League of Ireland and sport generally is being punished for the sins of others.
“I would like to understand and know how they came to the decision that they have come to in terms of putting out a blanket statement for everybody because I don’t think that it’s right,” said the Rovers manager on Wednesday.
“I need to be careful here but I think clubs have worked too hard and are doing too much in terms of protocols at the games and in terms of training for the government just to come out and make a blanket statement about everything.
“If they went around and looked at what’s been done, they would understand what has gone into it from every club and the finances that have gone into it. I don’t think that statement should relate to the league, I really don’t think it should.
“We have asked for clarification on everything that was said last night but it will change nothing in terms of me preparing to play Shelbourne (Friday, 7.45pm). I know there is a wider picture but we got tested on, I think it was Sunday or Monday, everyone is clear again. You can’t come out and tell us two days before a game to train in pods of 15 for no apparent reason.”
