Can you answer Martin's tricky teaser on Crystal Palace players who have won a Premier League medal?
Monday 16 March 2020 13:24, UK
Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler says the frustration he feels at the absence of football is reminiscent of the bitter winter of 1962/63 - and he brings you a quiz question to to help pass the time.
With Friday being the 13th and Sunday the date that did for Julius Caesar, the Ides of March, any prophesy for last weekend might have carried a degree of caution.
So on the calendar at least the loss of our football was at an apt time.
How long for, of course, remains in the hands of the government and their medical advisers but it was the decision of the football authorities to suspend the season and with high-profile managers and players affected by the coronavirus there is little room for debate.
On Saturday I was scheduled to be at Villa Park for Aston Villa's game with Chelsea - but when Sky Sports stood me down I still had the opportunity of National League football. When not commentating, I coach at Woking FC.
But at 11am, only four hours before kick-off, our home game against Dagenham also fell victim to the fears of infection, though a number of matches in the National League did go ahead.
The close-down has brought back memories of the bitter winter of 1962/63 when snow fell on Boxing Day and stayed on the ground until the end of February. There was no under-soil heating in those days and with frozen pitches there was a shutdown at all levels.
One or two imaginative groundsmen got to work with bales of straws and braziers and the occasional fixture did get played, notably at the old Leicester City ground at Filbert Street.
By and large though it was as barren as it is today. Very frustrating.
That season was extended into June, but at the back of your mind you knew a thaw would eventually come. Predicting a resumption now is much trickier and I do not envy those who make the decisions at the highest level.
My desk full of notes and commentary prep will stay primed for a return to the microphone, but I have a feeling my part in spring cleaning my house cannot be brushed off this year.
We will do our best to keep the trivia line open. As you can see from the top of the page, we have recorded a Tyler's Teaser as usual though not from Goodison Park, breaking the promise I made with the question which was set at Old Trafford prior to the Manchester derby.
Take care and stay well.
Martin Tyler
