Steven Mundell wonders if Premier League being "ambitious" in hopes for quick return based on what has happened in coronavirus pandemic epicentre
Monday 4 May 2020 09:01, UK
A Scottish football coach based in China is now back working with his team, after experiencing a strict three-month lockdown due to COVID-19, reports Charles Paterson.
Former Rangers and Rotherham youth coach Steven Mundell is head of academy coaching at Chongqing No.7 High School in a city of more than 30 million people in south-west China.
Although the school has returned to normal teaching hours and his teams are training once more, Mundell is still bound by certain restrictions.
"It's been challenging at times; we've been through the rigours of a lockdown where it was really strict. There was no daily exercise permitted and people were housebound in their apartments for a six-week period," Mundell told Sky Sports News.
"Two weeks ago, the school where the academy is based reopened gradually, with the U15 age group back for a full week trying out the new protocols. That finished without any problems, so last Monday the full school of 5,000 students came back.
"There are temperature checks before people go into the school, disinfectant must be used and hands washed before being allowed in, and nobody who isn't a member of staff or a student or a player is allowed in either, so it's quite restrictive.
"During class and walking about campus, everybody wears a mask, but we don't have any meetings or communications inside the buildings as we try to keep everything outside.
"Once we're on the pitch and the players are ready, we don't wear masks. There's no real restrictions in terms of the training or in games; we don't have any rules regarding distancing on the pitch, so training is itself very normal, but once it's over the players go through the routine of putting masks back on and getting temperature checks, and then they go back to class.
"I think competitive games are a few weeks away at least; I think there will be a period of seeing if there are any adverse effects in the short term. Things are relatively normal here in the city, so I think they are going to assess that before they have people come into contact with each other that is non-essential.
"The coaches I've spoken to are hopeful that potentially by the end of this month we could see some games with local teams, but any tournaments that are nationwide are still probably a distance away."
Wuhan, the city at the source of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, is around 500 miles from Chongqing.
Having isolated from the start of February until April, Mundell is sceptical about the potential timescale for competitive sport to resume in the UK.
Plans are afoot to restart the Premier League perhaps as soon as next month, while professional teams in Europe are beginning to return to full training.
"It's ambitious; I'd give it another month", said Mundell.
"That seems quite a tight schedule, unless there's a lot of things being put in place. I've read about all players and officials being tested, and I guess it depends on how the whole of the UK's situation develops.
"Here, we were three months from when the initial outbreak started until we were back at the academy training; it'll probably be another month before there's games played. I think something like that is more realistic in terms of a timeline, but it depends on measures being put in place to test individuals.
"The Chinese Super League is due to start back in June or July, and they're not going to have any games behind closed doors. A lot of the teams have been training or doing a very lengthy pre-season, but they don't have a definitive start date yet.
"A lot of the teams are ready to go; maybe not the ones that have a big reliance on foreign players, as some of those players left the country for lockdown and aren't all necessarily back. Those who are here have been training and are ready to play games once the government give it the go-ahead."
Even once competitive football resumes in China, life for Mundell will be considerably different for some time to come. A "new normal" of specific behaviours is now commonplace across the country.
"We're talking about a three-month lockdown process that is nearly finished; the local government is very confident that the number of cases is low enough, that it's now about reinforcing long-term good habits. With the checks now in place, I think they feel confident that if someone was unwell, it would be flagged quite early.
"People are starting to be a wee bit more confident in terms of how they behave in the city; give it another month, six weeks, we'll be back to pretty much normal, but with a few changes that can be easily maintained long-term.
"I think the advice to wear masks will remain; with things like temperature checks when you walk into a shopping centre or a restaurant, it's not a big deal and doesn't take a long time, so I don't think those things will disappear as they aren't a hindrance."
Spending weeks on end in isolation has been challenging, but there has been one benefit of the lockdown for Mundell.
"It's allowed me, if I'm trying to put a positive spin on it, to learn more of the Chinese language," he added.
"I've went from before the break relying heavily on translation apps, to now being able to communicate with the players direct in what's probably broken Chinese at best - I'm sure my Scottish accent doesn't help too much but I think they get the idea! With things heading to normality, hopefully I can enjoy the experience a bit more."
