The Community Shield marks beginnings and ends. Here come nine months of Premier League hopes and fears. Even if the eventual fate awaiting a team can become crystal clear as early as the opening weekend, there can be no backward glances. This means more, as the modern cliche goes. Many are happy to live by those words.
Regrettably, club football’s return also means the sun setting on a brilliant summer of sport, the closing of an ever-narrower window. Only the truly afflicted are not glad of the respite. The close season, as it was previously termed, lowers the cortisol, regulates the serotonin levels until it’s time to go again. The Club World Cup was not too much of a diversion, despite Gianni Infantino’s best efforts and corralling of Donald Trump, a month of unlovable fare that desperately searched for authenticity via its blaring, high-contrast cocktail of celebrity and Saudi Arabian money.
England’s modern-classic 25-day Test series with India, a British & Irish Lions rugby union tour to restore faith in the tradition, the emotions of Rory McIlroy’s Royal Portrush homecoming at the Open, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz playing out two thrilling grand slam tennis finals, both male and female versions of the Tour de France and, most of all, the rollercoaster ride the Lionesses took England on to defend their Euros crown. All have offered welcome relief from the Premier League’s self-important yet irresistible charms.
Each featured sport played at ultra-competitive levels, with plenty of needle around. England’s fielders attempted to distract their opponents with a circular set of sledges that often recalled the incantations from the Wicker Man. Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard eyed each other’s moves in the high mountains in predatory fashion, each trying to bury the other, but by Paris their admiration for each other was also made plain. Similar respect filled the air in the clinches shared between teams after India levelled at the Oval, and in Sydney as Australia signed off with a deserved consolation victory.
The spirit of cricket endures. This summer South Africa’s captain, Wiaan Mulder, declared his team’s innings with him on 367 not out against Zimbabwe, 33 short of the highest Test score, reasoning that “Brian Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be”, and showing clemency to a redeveloping opponent.
Where Wisden quoted a number of responses bemoaning “woke nonsense” and the like, Mulder’s gesture spoke to sportsmanship, legacy and a respect for his sport’s purity. The following weekend, the final of Infantino’s plaything ended in an on-pitch skirmish between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain players and Trump gatecrashing the celebrations.
So back into the football void we go, where “Respect” is a long-forgotten Football Association campaign, where video assistant referees mean the on-pitch official’s decision is…
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