Springbok World Cup-winning doctor Jerome Mampane has had to dust off the old stethoscope and join emergency medical services in the front-line battle against Covid-19.
All major sports codes were shut down in the middle of March because of the coronavirus threat that it posed to the country as well as the rest of the planet.
Dr Mampane, who is part of SA Rugby’s Springbok medical staff as well as Premier Soccer League giants Kaizer Chiefs’ medical team, has had to adjust to the reality facing many medical professionals who are doing the utmost to treat patients with the coronavirus and help curb its spread.
“I’ve had to go back and join the other [medical] services,” he said.
“Unfortunately it’s real front-line stuff for medical professionals now and the first shift I did a week or so ago made me realise the gravity of it.
“The first guy that walked in thinking he might have contracted Covid-19 got us to hurry and mask up quickly, wearing our PPEs [personal protective equipment]. It becomes real. That’s the most real experience I’ve had with this virus.
“It’s different to treating sports injuries. You expect a player to be someone that, in general, is healthy. It’s an odd thing when you’re removed from that environment and you’re faced with the ‘real life’ population. It’s very different.”
Many global mega sporting events such as Euro2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed to 2021 and it is yet unclear whether the sporting economy will ever recover from the cancellations, loss of income and total shutdown of sporting activity due to the global pandemic.
Dr Mampane said the consequences could be grave for the sporting world should the shutdown continue longer than anticipated. The English Premier League is said to be considering a return in May, with matches mooted to be held behind closed doors, just to avoid nearly a billion pounds in lost television revenue.
“I’m concerned with the world of sport, if I’m honest,” Dr Mampane said.
“I just wonder if this continues for an extra 30 days, if the world of sport would be irreparably crippled. It’s a question of what happens hereafter and we are all in limbo about that. The livelihoods of many are probably gonna change after this.
“This is not science but my feeling is that we won’t have this thing under control before June.
“I don’t feel like sport will return in April or May. It was always going to be impractical for things like the Olympics because the athletes need their own preparation phase but how would they do that when they are not running any races between now and then?
“The NBA has also come to a crippling halt and I think players are gonna be taking pay cuts soon and the English Premier League is meeting to discuss pay cuts for players.
“It’s turning into a nightmare that nobody believed it could possibly turn into.”
Despite the gloom and doom, he said that this shutdown would make people appreciate all the other roles played by people behind the scenes, who perhaps didn’t get the lavish praise given to players on the field.
“The good thing is that this will highlight all the other important roles within the sports economy,” he added.
“The problem we’ve always had, especially at the peak end, is that we always highlight what happens on the field and we tend to forget that those players have massive support staff.
“And I’m not talking only about team staff but the ground staff that prepare the pitches, the food services people and the like. There’s a lot that goes into the production but everyone just sees the main actors.
“If you don’t have a lady or a gentleman there selling the beer or the food, the whole entertainment package goes down. The likelihood that someone returns to that venue diminishes.
“If you don’t have security - who are paid peanuts by the way - the fans don’t feel secure in the venue and that also impacts the entertainment value. The same applies for broadcasting people, who make sure that someone can watch from the comfort of their homes.”