The Empty Stadium- What's Missing?
The Empty Stadium- What's Missing? Underwhelming. That would be a fair assessment of Republic of Ireland’s visit to Wembley at the beginning of November. I’m not even thinking of the scoreline or the performance, but the experience. “Magic of a visit to Wembley becomes empty experience in the time of Covid” was how Patrick Madden captured it. The pageantry and prestige of visiting the home of football was lacking. It was “eerily silent and devoid of a sense of occasion.” Empty. Empty stadiums are something we’ve been getting acclimatised to in these Covid times. Piping in the noise of the crowd to the ground or on the TV doesn’t seem to cover the awkward silence. The seats are empty, devoid of the colour the fans bring. It just doesn’t feel right. Bob Bradley the American football coach has said, “a game without fans has no soul” . Kyah Symon who plays football professionally in Australia and America says, “It’...