COVID-19: Football team observes 'social distancing' during match, loses 37-0

Guwahati: In a bizarre development, a German football team fielding only seven players lost 37-0 to their local rivals in the 11th tier of German football, Kreisklasse. Interestingly, the team's players, keeping with the COVID-19 norms, socially distanced throughout the match.

The team in question, SG Ripdorf/Molzen II, saw their opponents score 37 times as they strictly maintained social distancing norms even during the match. The amateur side had fielded only seven players because their opponents SV Holdenstedt II came into contact in a previous game with someone who had tested positive for COVID.

The Holdenstedt team had been in contact with an individual infected with Covid-19 during a previous match against Eddelstorf, according to Ripdorf president Patrik Ristow. The players tested negative for COVID-19 negative, but the opponents decided to practice social distancing as the prescribed of 14 days of quarantine had not been completed, just to be on the safer side.

Somewhat surprisingly, Holdenstedt chose to field their second side for the match. Ripdorf co-chair Patrick Ristow told ESPN that his team did not want to Irisk anything. "They did not go into direct duels and observed the social distancing rules, keeping two metres between them and Holdenstedt players," he said.

The match was bizarre, to say the least, as the Holdenstedt team scored a goal every two or three minutes against the severely depleted Ripdorf side. One of Ripdorf's players stepped onto the pitch at the beginning of the match, passed the ball to an opponent. The team then walked to the sidelines.

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