The big problem football must eradicate as it comes out of shutdown: Liam Hoden column

Handshakes.

Putting it simply, football is riddled with close encounters of those virus-spreading appendages.

A few months ago, it all seemed so normal, so innocent, so respectful.

In fact, encountering anyone in the game who did not freely offer up a hand to shake was an odd experience. Who was this maverick snubbing one of the major tenets of football’s unwritten constitution of etiquette?

As Covid-19 spread, just prior to the shutdown of the game, there were efforts made to halt the problem. Players merely dispersed after lining up, managers exchanged conciliatory nods.

But such is the depth of the problem with shaking hands, a couple of hours after making the conscious effort not to touch the opposition, players simply could not help themselves.

At the final whistle they were magnetically drawn to each other. Or at least their hands were.

It is not simply match days and in the glare of the public where the issue is so prevalent.

Encounter anyone in the game on any day and at any time and a handshake is likely to occur.

Pre and post-match press conferences typically start and finish with one. It even spreads to the media!

Perhaps it is time to take a leaf out of the book of another sport. In boxing, there is a major reluctance to shake hands, to the extent that the sport has its own form of the gesture.

A handshake still occurs but it is limp and soft, an almost gentle cupping of the fingers that is both awkward and unsettling when experiencing it for the first time.

It is said to date back to more shady times when there were genuine fears a fighter’s hand would be crushed to harm them before a bout.

The ‘new normal’ will require football to change in all manner of ways if society is to rid itself of Covid-19 for good.

In that revolution, the game must not forget handshaking. Or, really, it actually should.

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