The sporting landscape is as barren as its ever been. All around there is nothing but tumbleweed and it looks like it will be that way for quite some time. This is a problem for many of us but particularly someone like Matt Williams who, as he writes himself, has continually played, coached and talked about rugby for more than 50 years. "For the first time in all those years there was a void," he writes. After a quick dash back to his home in France he set about making a list of 10 items which can also help you get through this lean rugby time. When the sport will return to some semblance of normality is impossible to tell at the moment but Gerry Thornley writes that some clarity is, at least, expected over the coming days. Much of the talk could centre around the Champions Cup and not even necessarily this season's competition which is stalled at the quarter-final stage but next year's instalment for which the qualifying teams are unknown. John O'Sullivan has closer analysis of how the tournament might look.
Moving to soccer where there was some (potentially over optimistic) clarity from the Premier League yesterday as to when the season will return. After originally setting the date of April 4th the 20 clubs yesterday agreed to move it back to April 30th at the earliest but, at this stage, even that is looking wildly optimistic. On these shores the timeline may be a bit more realistic after the National League Executive Committee and the FAI yesterday set a target of getting the season back underway before the end of June, a proposal which will be put to the 19 clubs today. In other news, James McClean, Enda Stevens, Kevin Long and Gavin Bazunu are among those to donate to an emergency ¤25,000 fund to help struggling clubs in the league during the current crisis. Meanwhile, in our latest Greener Pastures column, Aonghus Ó Maicín speaks to Mahon native John Andrews about his return to Icelandic football and how he was proclaimed as "the king" when the move back to the island was confirmed.
In GAA, Niall Moyna says two hours training per week will maintain footballers' fitness levels during the current time away from matches being played. "I've said for a long time that I think we maybe train a little too hard. We all should be exercising every day but for a footballer, in addition to their daily physical activity, three 40-minute sessions of quality work a week – half of that with a ball – would be enough to maintain most of their fitness," he told Seán Moran.
Finally, the Irish Open in Mount Juliet at the end of May is the next European Tour event in line to be postponed with all events leading up to it already off the table. But it's not just professional golf that is being laid low by coronavirus, as the majority of Ireland's top golf clubs are trying to mitigate the financial shortfall of any pronounced reduction in the number of golfers travelling to these shores from America and Europe, writes John O'Sullivan.
