Exclusive Interview: Tony Higgins – Think we’ve got problems? Just take a look across Europe for a Covid-19 reality check

Tony Higgins chuckles at the notion of Boli Bolingoli’s Covid-19 breach having been the talk of the steamie across the greater football world.

As the country’s representative on the international footballers union, FIFPro, the 66-year-old has heard all manner of news flashes in the game’s fight against the pandemic.

And, he reports back, what at the time seemed a truly tumultuous event here – with Celtic’s Belgian defender utterly disregarding quarantine rules – the controversy did not make a ripple beyond our own shores.

“Nobody contacted me from Spain, Holland or anywhere else to say: ‘What was that all about?’,” said the man who, as a former team-mate of George Best at Hibs, is no stranger to the concept of footballers going briefly off the rails.

“Why not? Because everyone is too busy dealing with their own crises.

“People are consumed with their own environment. That is something I have discovered as I have gone along.

“They tend to have that microscopic view where they think whatever is happening on their doorstep is the worst in the world.

“The reality – certainly the 2020 reality – is there is all sorts going on, and going on all over the place.

“It is a mixed bag.

“In Serbia, some players have been on hunger strike due to non-payment of salaries due to the financial pressures of Covid-19.

“In Croatia, players have had to do their own coronavirus testing, and the league was briefly suspended.

“In some of the more-impoverished nations, there is an issue of clubs being able to afford the tests because some of the federations are not prepared to take on the cost of blanket testing.

“Pretty much universally, there was a mad panic at the start, and it was caused by people trying to identify what the extent of the problem was in their country.

“In the early stages, most of the Eastern European countries were comparatively unaffected.

“In Belarus, for example, they kept on playing. Right enough, following the election there, we now know what kind of person runs Belarus!

“But a lot of these nations either ignored Covid-19, or said they were having little issues. They appear to be catching up now.

“At the moment, all the leagues are running. But the lack of proper testing caused issues, with the league in Cyprus, for example, having to shut down for a period before starting up again.

“In general, the attitude of the football authorities tend to mirror the attitude of the government in their country.

“Where they are united is in their desire to get the fixtures fulfilled, and avoid a situation – like the one we had in Scotland – where the season was called with several fixtures still outstanding.

“That is because in each case, the domestic leagues are a vital part of the financial well-being of the game.

“They bring in the sponsorship money, a lot of the broadcast revenue and, of course, a big chunk of cash through the gate.

“So there is a desire across Europe to see leagues finished, come what may.

“From the players union’s point of view, of course, we say at the same time, you can’t compromise safety.

“The players want to play. They are desperate to play because they need to feed themselves.

“But there is always a safety issue.”

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The latest news to impact here was Aberdeen’s Europa League tie on Thursday night being cast into doubt by 10 Sporting Lisbon staff, including seven players, testing positive for the virus.

Higgins says players themselves share the health concerns, even though overall the risks the virus poses to them on an individual basis might be low.

“In eastern and southern Europe, there have been questions raised about how Covid-19 grants have been spent,” he said.

“UEFA and FIFA gave out money to countries to deal with the pandemic, but they tend to be quite loose in the application of that.

“They don’t say: ‘You must spend it on that, that and that.

“Some of the players were not happy because they felt if the money was not being used for testing, then what is it being used for?

“In Western Europe generally, the leagues have done their best to try to deal with the virus. But there is an issue with governance and finance.

“In countries where the law is not adhered to, sport might see an opportunity to duck and dive a little.

“In most countries in Western Europe, there tends to be imposition from the government.

“However, in countries where that is not the case, the standards have to come from other sources, and very often that is UEFA.

“Their tournaments set a benchmark for most countries, and that is important because – for the international teams and the big club sides – that is where the money is.

“They say to clubs: ‘If you want to play in our competition, then these are the conditions you need to adhere to’.

“Then you get the clubs who compete in Europe saying: ‘Why do we have to meet higher standards than the other clubs in our country?’.

“What happens in Scotland very often mirrors what happens in England, only with less money.

“It is very often difficult for us to do the same things as they do because of the level of finance available.

“But we operate under similar government guidelines, and that ultimately determines how things operate within a country.

“Generally, the law is adhered to in most countries.”

Higgins insists nothing underhand will go on at the highest levels of the game.

“We all saw what happened with the Czech Republic-Scotland game, and the Czechs having to bring in a totally new group of players,” he continued. “The Euro Play-off with Israel will go ahead on October 8 because Israel have been given a special exemption by their government to travel by charter.

“There is a big effort going on to get the game played. The sad thing is there will be no fans at Hampden to see it.

“There has been some movement in France in terms of getting larger crowds back to games, but the government have put their foot down there as well.

“At the PSG-Marseille game, that ended with five players being sent off, including Neymar, there were 5,000 fans inside the Parc des Princes.

“In Denmark, they pushed ahead with trials and had crowds of up to 5,000 back into games. But they have been forced to throttle back, and are now letting just 500 in.

“In every country, you have the big clubs lobbying for their supporters to be allowed back in. It is the same all over.

“We all want the same thing – but we have to be patient.”