“Let’s talk about the football. Let’s talk about the football!”
Liam Brady was probably looking forward to talking about Giorgio Chiellini’s defending masterclasses, Roberto Mancini’s influence on Italy’s attacking style or Spain’s ingénue, Pedri. Richie Sadlier had other ideas.
The RTÉ pundits were in studio for the Euro 2020 semi-final between Italy and Spain. 60,000 supporters are at Wembley Stadium for the game, and a slew of extra tickets were snapped up for the game today.
Sadlier took issue with Uefa placing demands on the UK government to allow thousands of V.I.Ps and sponsors to fly into London to attend the match without having to quarantine for 10 days [if they are on their ‘amber’ or ‘red’ travel list].
Supporters that picked up the extra tickets had to be Covid compliant – vaccinated already or testing negative and having such proof – but Sadlier took issue with the exceptions being made.
“What stinks in all of this, is there’s an entirely different set of rules if you’re what’s called a Uefa V.I.P or a commercial partner. If you’re one of the Uefa bigwigs, you don’t have to quarantine, you don’t have to produce any documents. In you go, watch the game and off you go.”
As Sadlier continued, remarking there was ‘one rule for the elites and one rule for the rest of us’ and being ‘in the clique’, Brady cut in.
“Richie, some of the rules did apply. They have to have been tested and they had to stay in their hotels when they arrived in and not go anywhere else.”
Pointing out that Uefa had flexed their muscles by threatening to move the game to Budapest if the UK government did not make concessions, the former Ireland midfielder just wanted to get back to the game at hand.
“Look, Richie, they’re trying to have a tournament in the middle of a pandemic, and I think it’s been fantastic so far.
“Let’s talk about the football, let’s talk about the football Let’s talk about the football!”
Richie Sadlier argues that UEFA have shown double standards when it comes to those in attendance at Wembley tonight #ITAESP #EURO2020 #RTEsoccer
📱 Live updates – https://t.co/boCn1QDnjw
📺 Watch live – https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE pic.twitter.com/bM7rP6qFmg— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 6, 2021
Thankfully, neither Brady or Sadlier had long to wait before the game kicked off.
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