Playing AFL, NRL and other professional sporting matches has not helped our coronavirus crisis

There are many reasons Australia missed the jump in the Coronavirus Stakes by six lengths and is now desperately trying to lengthen its stride and somehow catch up. Our geographical isolation created a false sense of immunity; authorities failed to heed warnings from abroad and even those of their own experts; leaders blithely announced they were off to the footy compounding the "she'll be right" attitude; the fake news era left many sceptical about the magnitude of the threat they faced. The sobering moment of realisation was not the AFL's announcement the season had been suspended but the desultory sight of games continuing even as various governments effectively shut our world down. But later, watching picnickers tumbling over each other in parks and driving past pubs filled with revellers having "last drinks", I felt annoyed, even humiliated, that I had failed to strongly emphasise that the continuation of sport was contributing to the life-threatening normalisation of society. Yet, again, it was the imposition of the harshest isolation measures that made it obvious that, no matter how well-meaning the motives, sport was too slow to shut the gates for participants as well as fans; that the sight of footballers wrestling each other to the ground as leaders and public health officials were trying to raise awareness and enforce social distancing was absurdly counterintuitive.