Some Tottenham and Republic Ireland fans have taken to Twitter to vent their unhappiness at the recent Covid 19 tests that have afflicted the Ireland squad.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) announced yesterday via Twitter that Matt Doherty and James McClean tested positive for Covid 19 and the response has been fairly damning.
Here is just a small sample of some of those responses and it has to be said that they do represent a majority view.
When is an investigation going to go into this? We lose numerous players per match right now due to covid. Have the FAI not set up the correct measures to stop the spread?
— Dan O'Carroll #WearAMask (@DanOCarroll9) November 16, 2020
International breaks during pandemics are stupid
— Mikey (@MikeyRyan_7) November 16, 2020
Have to ask now what are the FAI protocols for protecting players and staff and what are our covid positive rates compared to other international teams. Is it just a case we aren't seeing others reporting or are we genuinely getting it wrong?
— Cormac Mc (@cormac_mcgee) November 16, 2020
Another player gone due to a meanless international friendly that no one really cares about, what sort of protocol are the FAI doing ffs,
— darren o neill (@donspur1) November 16, 2020
This utterly and completely mad and an unacceptable situation, the authorities responsible for this debacle should be help to account and fired for allowing these ridiculous games to go ahead in the current climate.
— COYS Bear (@COYS_Bear) November 16, 2020
Was bound to happen to one of our players at some point during these idiotic internationals
— 《 Perry 》 (@mrdarrenperry) November 16, 2020
The general consensus appears to be that these international matches were unnecessary, especially the friendlies but also of concern, it seems, is how the FAI allowed this to happen, what sort of protocols did they have in place and what sort of protection was afforded to the players.
There have been a number of high profile players that have tested positive for Covid, in the last international window Ronaldo contracted the disease, Mo Salah has done so in this window and many others.
It does seem that the national teams do not have the same sort of stringent precautions in place that the clubs have and it is justified for the fans to question what the hell is going on.
