BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Legendary West Indies wicketkeeper, Jeffrey Dujon, believes the remainder of the year will be an “economic write-off” for sports because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and says any lingering hope by authorities that cricket can resume in coming months was empty optimism.
Arguing that the virus was still wreaking havoc on all countries across the world, the 63-year-old said any attempt to stage cricket or sporting events would be “reckless”, and could potentially endanger the lives of many.
“It has brought everything to a total halt. Everybody in the other countries are being affected as well but the smaller ones are being affected most in terms of revenues primarily at this point,” the Jamaican told Starcom Radio’s Mason and Guest cricket radio show here.
“We hear people talking about June and whatever. I personally don’t feel this is really realistic in terms of what has to be done to get in control of this COVID-19. I don’t think we’re seeing the worst of it yet.”
He added: “I don’t think any cricket is going to be played until we’ve gone back to a situation of some kind of normalcy where people can gather. People just don’t seem to understand … I honestly don’t see the resumption of anything in a very, very long time and I’m talking minimum the rest of this year.
“We haven’t really gotten anywhere where this thing is concerned. I don’t think a vaccine is going to be around before the end of the year so let’s be realistic, this year is going to be an economic write-off for everybody.”
The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the sporting calendar globally, even forcing the postponement of the summer Tokyo Olympics until next year.
Cricket has also not been spared with several series already cancelled. Cricket West Indies has been forced to scrap several domestic tournaments and also postpone the tour of England scheduled for June.
And while CWI are holding out hope that tours of the Caribbean by New Zealand and South Africa can proceed, the ongoing spread of the virus has increased the likelihood that both series will also be cancelled.
Dujon, who played 81 Tests in the halcyon era of West Indies cricket, said authorities needed to be realistic about the immediate future.
“We need to start thinking about what’s going to happen when this thing (cricket) resumes [eventually] and stop being so optimistic and thinking in terms of months,” the Jamaican explained.
“Sensibly we have to get to a stage where we have this thing (virus) under control and we’re actually not having people recover but we are curing people, which means we would have to have a vaccine. I don’t think we will ever be the same again.”
He added: “People are talking about the Olympics and large gathering of people before we’re even slightly out of the woods, I think it is really irresponsible for people to be pushing for this kind of thing.
“You cannot be thinking about large gatherings of people unless we can be sure they will be safe and because this thing is a worldwide pandemic, I don’t see the degree to which we can guarantee people’s safety if they congregate in large numbers. We can’t do that.”
With no revenue being generated because of the global lockdown, many cricket boards are facing severe financial difficulties but Dujon said public health also needed to be prioritised.
“[Economic collapse] is a real fear but at the same time, in order to fight it you cannot endanger the lives of people,” Dujon stressed.
