The potential scale of coronavirus-vaccine hesitancy among footballers in England was laid bare on Wednesday when Telegraph Sport revealed research that showed almost a third of English Football League players had no plans to get jabbed.
Amid mounting fears many professionals are refusing to be immunised, Telegraph Sport has spoken to several individuals within the game, from club owners to player agents to senior figures, to investigate why so few have been fully inoculated, putting themselves, others and the integrity of the game at risk.
Complacency
The most common reason cited by those spoken to by Telegraph Sport. Players who view themselves as “young and fit” were said to believe they “wouldn’t get ill” if they contracted a disease that has been shown to affect far more elderly people and those with health conditions. One senior figure in the English game said: “It does seem to be young players rather than older players who are resisting.”
That is despite there now being several examples of footballers falling seriously ill – and being hospitalised – after catching Covid-19. A source close to more than one player to have recovered from the virus also said they saw little point in being jabbed while they had some sort of natural immunity. “All the vaccine does is give you exactly the same as what Covid gives you,” he said.
While that may be true, it does not prevent an adult being forced to self-isolate if he or she is deemed a close contact of someone to test positive for the virus. Double-jabbed people have been exempt from self-isolation since last month.
Fear
Information and disinformation about the side-effects of various vaccines was also raised. Being jabbed can make you unwell and there have been extremely rare and tragic examples of people dying as a direct result – although this is overwhelmingly outweighed by those to have become seriously ill or died after not being immunised.
There have been numerous conspiracy theories about the vaccine, something cited by Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce and Middlesbrough’s Neil Warnock when they admitted last month many of their players had not been immunised. One agent told Telegraph Sport: “Players are always into conspiracy theories. They’ve got time on their hands. They’re forever forwarding stuff around their WhatsApp groups with conspiracy theories about all sorts of things.”
A senior figure in the game said some appeared to have been brainwashed by anti-vax scaremongering. A general distrust of Government health initiatives was also hinted at, with one chief executive of a Championship club saying there had been “more of a resistance” from their black players, in line with society as a whole.
Conformity
Mark Palios, the chairman of League Two Tranmere Rovers, was one of the few figures contacted who was prepared to speak publicly about vaccine hesitancy among players. He said “conformity” would be a key factor, particularly whether a club’s “senior pros” were for or against getting jabbed. He also said teams would be desperate to avoid morale being damaged by what could be a contentious issue.
“There can be many types of issues that upset it and you need them all pulling together. You don’t really need anything that divides the dressing room.”
The senior figure in the game said: “You maybe hope that there’ll be some peer pressure.” On whether religion was a factor in some players’ refusal to be jabbed, the chief executive of the Championship side said: “They don’t tend to say it’s religious. They just say, ‘I’m not doing it’.”
Laziness
Almost everyone contacted admitted some players were simply too “lazy” to get themselves vaccinated. “We all know what footballers are like managing their lives,” said a source at one Premier League club. The agent, meanwhile, said: “You would be astonished how many players are not registered with a GP. And they don’t need to be because the club has got a doctor. So, for a player to get vaccinated, they’ve got to get off their arse. My good friend, who’s an assistant manager at a Premier League club, hasn’t been vaccinated. I asked him why and he said, ‘I’m not against it. I just haven’t got round to it. I’m registered at my doctors 300 miles away and when I finish training, I go back to the hotel and think I’ll get round to it next week’. I’m thinking, ‘Bloody hell. You’re 43 years old. You could’ve got vaccinated months ago’.”
The chief executive from the Championship club said they had managed to get seven unvaccinated players jabbed simply by arranging for the individuals to be immunised at their training ground.
Lack of incentive
‘No jab, no job’ might be becoming more common but clubs have so far resisted imposing mandatory vaccinations on players. The Professional Footballers’ Association has made it clear that, while it supports immunisation efforts, it would not agree to forced jabs.
The senior figure in the game said clubs would have a case for imposing immunisation on “health and safety grounds” because the well-being of a single player would be trumped by that of a whole squad. Some are banking on the Government introducing vaccine passports – including for nightclubs – and on the double-jabbed being exempt from quarantining when travelling abroad, in order to convince players to be immunised. But the agent said: “Being utterly frank, they’ve got to look at inducements, which is what some sectors are doing. One of my clients gives their employees £100 a dose. Their take-up went through the roof.”
Lack of education
The senior figure in the game acknowledged the need for “a better education programme” to get across why being jabbed is overwhelmingly the right thing to do both for individuals and society as a whole. The Championship chief executive bemoaned the fact that the captains of Premier League teams had been given such a briefing by Jonathan Van Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, but EFL sides had not.
As revealed by the Telegraph, the EFL has now asked for Van Tam to contribute to an education and myth-busting effort among lower-league players. Clubs who have been at the forefront of promoting vaccination to the general public are acutely aware players’ refusal to get jabbed risks undermining their efforts.