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'They're doing the right thing' | Pat Nevin on football players' response to coronavirus

Pat Nevin believes that both football players and associations are 'trying to do the right thing'...



Soccer

'They're doing the right thing' | Pat Nevin on football players' response to coronavirus

Pat Nevin believes that both football players and associations are 'trying to do the right thing' amid planning around coronavirus.

Confusion surrounds the position of existing competitions as UEFA suspended the Champions League and Europa League and domestic competitions are in disarray.

However, players such as Seamus Coleman, Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have donated money to causes designed to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

PFA initiatives

As a former president of the PFA, Nevin was keen to impart that, while laudable, such initiatives are by no means new.

"Having worked inside football, from work with the PFA and players etc, I have watched it for years - they have helped in various ways.

"We had it written in our contracts decades ago that there was a certain amount of time every week that you need to give to community. People are amazed that, still.

"We, as the PFA, were the ones that were pushing it.

"I found an ex-Chelsea player the other day that had started a hospital in Brazil. Then I found all these other ex-Chelsea players for an article - the amount of them that had done it!

"I had absolutely no idea that that was happening and that is just one club.It is great that with coronavirus happening that people are seeing that.

"I know that a lot of people think that with the [Sky and TV money] that players should be doing that. But the point is that they are."

Bong

"I was talking to a random player - Gaetan Bong - a player that you would hardly know anything about.

"He is stuck in Nottingham with his family on the wrong continent, but he was thinking about how he can help the community here.

"It is great to see that the vast majority of them have got it through their heads.

"Most people - and I include football associations in this - are trying to do the right thing."

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Football Paddy Power Pat Nevin Seamus Coleman Soccer