The Morning Sports weekly feature, Not Just Sport

[caption id="attachment_134164" align="alignleft" width="455"] This 1918 Washington University file photo shows the university football players wearing protective masks due to the Spanish flu epidemic[/caption]

 By the time World War I and the global flu pandemic, better known as the Spanish flu, finally ended in 1919, fans were more than ready to get back to watching sports.

Here is how sport got battered and survived in a magnanimous manner by the last time the world faced a similar pandemic like the Covid-19 at present, from an American perspective as was reported in reviewjournal.com on 1 August 2020. The article is written by Mark Anderson of Las Vegas.

At least 50 million lost their lives

The flu had claimed at least 50 million lives worldwide, including about 675,000 in the United States. That toll was even more severe than the war, which took the lives of 20 million soldiers and civilians throughout the world, including more than 116,000 Americans.

Fans not only returned to stadiums and arenas, their interest lifted sports into a new golden age. For sports today, a similar uptick in interest could be one silver lining once the current coronavirus pandemic is finally under control.

Appetite for sport was the same

The modern sports landscape is much more crowded than it was 100 years ago, but the appetite for live events is similar. It’s clear that fans are eager to return to the days when venues were packed and the term “bubble” applied to basketball teams hoping to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and not where teams attempt to safely play to avoid the coronavirus.

The impact from the previous pandemic can still be seen in the massive college football stadiums built in the 1920s, which were at least in part in response to the pent-up demand for sports. Those include such historic venues as the Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Ohio Stadium, Michigan Stadium and Louisiana State’s Tiger Stadium. Attendance at college football games more than doubled over that decade to more than 10 million.

Masks controversial

Then, like now, there was no national strategy to limit the pandemic. Unlike now, however, it was much more difficult to communicate a national plan because of the lack of an effective way to communicate to the entire nation. Radio broadcasts didn’t become common until 1920.

The use of masks was controversial then as now. Health officials urged the wearing of face coverings in 1918 and 1919, and some cities mandated their use, but a notable resistance sprang up, with those resisting claiming forced use was a violation of personal liberty.

“You would think 100 years later all the advances that we’ve made, but yet we’re in the exact same situation,” said Rafi Mendelsohn of the website MyHeritage.com. “Certain parallels are quite incredible. … Some of the articles that we’ve uncovered in the MyHeritage records could’ve been written yesterday.” The sports scene was hit particularly hard by the pandemic.

Four Stanley Cup players die

A presidential edict led to baseball shortening its season because players weren’t considered essential workers and had to find a job or sign up for the war effort. The Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs in six games in the World Series, which ended Sept. 11, 1918, the final game attracting just 15,238 fans.

The Stanley Cup Final was declared a draw after five games between the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association because both teams were hit with the flu. Montreal, down to three healthy players, offered to forfeit, but Seattle declined.

Future Hall of Famer Joe Hall of the Canadiens died April 5, 1919, four days after the Final was declared over.

Dangerous to hasten the restart

Four pro leagues, the NBA, NHL, WNBA and MLS, are attempting to complete their seasons in “bubbles” at centralised locations. MLB has begun playing in empty stadiums, but the outbreak of the coronavirus threatens to lead to a cancellation of the season. And the NFL plans to go ahead with its season in front of limited or no crowds.

The hope throughout the American sports world is for some sort of normalcy to return. But Zweig, the hockey historian, issued a warning based on the lessons from the 1919 Stanley Cup Final about the urge to return too quickly.

“They can start up and they can have all the protocols they want,” Zweig said. “We call it flu season, but there’s no schedule. It can start up again at any time.”