Misery for England fans as Italian government orders all sporting events to take place behind closed doors until April
Italy’s Guinness Six Nations match versus England on March 14 will have to be played behind closed doors at Stadio Olimpico in Rome or be postponed to a later date.
It follows the publication of a new Italian government decree that has ordered all sporting events to take place without fans until April 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Six Nations officials had declared on Monday that all remaining matches in the championship were going ahead as planned except for the already postponed meeting of Ireland versus Italy in Dublin which had been fixed for next Saturday in Dublin.
However, with the threat of the coronavirus spread still not under control, the Azzurri’s round five clash with the English in Rome is now set to be played without a crowd allowed watch at Stadio Olimpico - or be postponed to a later date by tournament officials.
The decree allows for “the suspension of events of any nature… that entails the concentration of people and do not allow for a safe distance of at least one metre (yard) to be respected.”
If the match goes ahead behind closed doors on March 14, it will leave thousands of England fans facing misery after booking flights and hotels in the Italian capital to attend the match.
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So if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
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