The weekend marked the return of the German Bundesliga, the first of Europe's major football leagues to resume behind closed doors. Defending champions Bayern Munich beat Union Berlin 2-0 away from home yesterday, while on Saturday the fixture of the day saw Borussia Dortmund thrash rivals Schalke 4-0. That game was marked by both the eeriness of an empty Westfalenstadion, as well as another ice-cold performance from 19-year-old Erling Haaland. And in his column this morning Ken Early has suggested fixtures behind closed doors could be moved to better suit people's lives and the TV schedule, with a weekend slot no longer necessary without supporters. He writes: "Who wants to spend sunny summer Saturdays sitting at home watching empty-stadium football matches? There is no longer any good reason for these games to occupy that precious leisure-time real estate. It's obvious that weekday evenings are now the best time for them: something new to watch at a time when it's more likely you have nothing better to do."
Live golf also returned yesterday, with world number one Rory McIlroy taking part in a Covid-19 charity event at Seminole in Florida. And McIlroy, alongside playing partner Dustin Johnson, was victorious in the Driving Relief two-on-two charity skins, as the duo edged Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff in a closest-to-the-hole tiebreak. During the event US President Donald Trump phoned into the television commentary and was asked about the criticism he had received from McIlroy last week. Trump said: "A lot of them (golfers) are very political, actually. A lot of them like my politics very much and some don't, I guess. The ones that don't I don't get to see as much."
Elsewhere in this morning's Tipping Point column, Malachy Clerkin has urged racing shouldn't take the heat for being one of the first sports to resume when it gets back underway in Ireland on June 8th. The original date for racing to return was June 29th only for it to be brought forward - and he suggests this is a positive, if tentative step on the road back to normality. He writes: "If you never watched a horse race in your life, the fact that the people in charge of reopening society have decided that this is doable should still bring you joy. It's one step closer to getting the thing you care about up and running again too." Meanwhile Government regulations which require anyone entering Ireland to quarantine for 14 days means next month's Classics could be contested by home horses only. The Irish 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas are set to be run behind closed doors at the Curragh on June 12th-13th.
In today's edition of the Sporting Controversies series, Sean Moran looks back to 2005 and the removal of Rule 42, which allowed Ireland's rugby and soccer teams to play fixtures in Croke Park. This paved the way for Ireland's famous 2007 43-13 win over England at GAA HQ, but hadn't always seemed likely. He writes: "The result wasn't expected - I was sure it wasn't going to succeed - and there was an almost audible intake of breath after then president Seán Kelly, a long-term advocate of change, read out the result, 227-97. It was emphatic but 12 switched votes and the GAA would have been digging in for a bombardment of negative publicity."
