Martin Smith on football, coronavirus and Black Lives Matter movement

Players take a knee in solidarity with protests raging across the United States over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died during an arrest, prior to the kick off for the German first division Bundesliga football match BVB Borussia Dortmund v Hertha Berlin on June 6, 2020 in Dortmund, western Germany. (Photo by Lars BARON / POOL / AFP) / ALTERNATIVE CROP (Photo by LARS BARON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

To use an old-school phrase: ’He doesn’t know if he’s on this earth or Fuller’s’.

The irresistible allure of imminent live sport is becoming, er, resistible.

The Premier League is back in ten days but seems more and more like a sideshow to escalating global developments.

So let’s recap.

We can’t go to football matches because Coronavirus likes crowds.

On the other hand racism is stalking society so get out there and protest.

Clear on that?

All racism, institutional or any other, has to be outed and be fought by everyone.

Something structural and significant has to change in the way black, ethnic and other minority groups are treated by the law and wider society.

But being morally right won’t protect anyone from the virus.

Being on the street in a crowd is, in contact terms, like being at a football match.

American writer Thomas Chatterton Williams puts it in a slightly different context:

“More black Americans have been killed by three months of coronavirus than the number who have been killed by cops and vigilantes since the turn of the millennium.”

There is more than one way to contribute to the cause.

Risking your own or someone else’s death doesn’t have to be one of them.

*Retiring? Again?

The Notorious Conor Macgregor brought new levels of notoriety to his sport.

Brash and unrepentant he helped put MMA top of the world’s sporting agenda with his talent and bravado.

He’s retired twice already and at the age of 31 it’s not clear if his assertion that UFC doesn’t ‘excite‘ him any more is serious.

Maybe he just wants us to talk about him again, again.

*Talking of ‘Notorious’ as a name and reputation, how about basketball star Allen Iverson for the last word in sporting nicknames?

Allen ‘The Answer’ Iverson was 45 years old yesterday.

A man who has seen trouble in his personal life, some of his own making, some decidedly not, was one of the most talented players ever to star in the NBA.

Look at his top ten plays on Youtube and see that whatever the on-court question was, Iverson actually was The Answer.

While we’re on nicknames - how about Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz’s French-born centre.

At 7ft 2ins he’s one of the best blockers in the game - he stops the opposition scoring.

His nickname? The Stifle Tower.