SALT LAKE CITY — Players in both Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League have just begun returning to individual, voluntary workouts at team facilities, but talk is ramping up about when and how they might soon return to play.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that MLS is working on a proposal that would see all 26 teams go to Orlando to play the season there (the NBA is also reportedly eyeing Orlando as a place to potentially finish its season). A few hours after that report, Utah Royals FC head coach Craig Harrington met with media via Zoom and addressed a number of topics, including possible avenues for the NWSL’s return to play.
“I think just the enthusiasm of getting back out, that freshly cut grass, the smell, nets on goals, they’re just embracing that, so it’s been good.” — Utah Royals FC head coach Craig Harrington
“If the league went that way and said, ‘Hey, this is all safe,’ ... then yeah,” he said in regard to his thoughts about playing in one location. “Obviously I’m the coach of a team. Those decisions are way above my scale of input.”
Harrington noted the importance of having testing for the coronavirus and tracing systems well in place before a potential return were to happen. Additionally, he would want at least four weeks of preseason before play started (the NWSL was in its first week of preseason when it got shut down in mid-March).
Most importantly, he would not want to force players or staff members to feel pressured to start playing.
“There would be no pressure to any one player or any one staff member to do it if they didn’t want to do it ... obviously within these matters, if we are going to end up going to games, you want individuals that are up for it and are in it and are really gung-ho about it and committed to that,” he said.
If the NWSL eventually returns but doesn’t go the “bubble city” route, Harrington sees an abbreviated season happening with a system in place in which teams wouldn’t have to travel as much as normal, but he pointed out that even limited travel would raise numerous questions that don’t yet have answers.
On the question of playing without fans in stands, Harrington imagines that’s likely even into the 2021 season. He called that “a shame” since “we live for the fans and we play for them,” but he’s at least hopeful that whenever games start, a crowd environment can somehow be replicated in stadiums.
“I think there’s probably ways to get creative where they can manufacture some kind of support or sound in the stadiums,” he said. “I don’t imagine professional games still going on with it just being like a practice game. I think there’ll be some kind of way that they manipulate or facilitate some kind of atmosphere that tries to create at close as possible from a noise level what might be happening in stadiums around the world.”
Until then, coaches and players are trying to maximize the individual training sessions that have now begun at America First Field in Sandy, which he is not allowed to be at (head athletic trainer Emily Fortunado and sports performance coach Andy Wiseman oversee them).
Harrington said as much as being productive, however, the emphasis on the training sessions has been on following the strict safety protocols set forth by the NWSL.
“The players have been great that way,” he said, “and I think just the enthusiasm of getting back out, that freshly cut grass, the smell, nets on goals, they’re just embracing that, so it’s been good.”