G'day sports fans,

Classic sports movie quote: Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever - Shane Falco (The Replacements)

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

⚽️ A-League player's golf buggy joyride

🏉 Huge pay cuts in the NRL

⚽️ In Belarus football carries on regardless

Lockdown Skills 💯

🏉 NRL

Proposed NRL pay cut of up to 87% of salary

Rugby Pass reported NRL players have been asked to take a pay cut of up to 87 per cent as the league braces for the worst-case scenario of an abandoned season due to coronavirus.

And NRL great Cooper Cronk says players should agree to the massive financial hit and do “whatever it takes” to ensure the game’s survival.

The development follows advice from the NRL’s pandemic expert this week that the 2020 season will be a complete wipeout.

That scenario could leave several clubs in a dire financial position with questions raised over whether all 16 clubs would survive into 2021 (RugbyPass)

Meanwhile, Fox Sports are reporting the worst-case scenario being that NRL players have been told they could have their pay packets slashed to $3000 each per month for the next five months. 

$80 million less than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There is believed to be a pool of just over $12 million to go around the 480 contracted NRL players.

If the NRL is only suspended for the next three months, players are believed to have been told they will be paid $8,333 per month before tax. (Fox)

Absolute Gold

⚽️ Football

Coronavirus has ground the world to a halt. But in one country ‘no one cares’ and football continues

This is Europe’s last footballing outpost, where the country’s President believes ‘tractor therapy’ can cure a deadly virus.

Welcome to the Belarusian Premier League.

Former Arsenal and Barcelona star Alexander Hleb admits “no one cares” about the coronavirus in his homeland.

On Thursday, as Uefa debated how to save the season, one country was going about their business as usual.

Hleb said: “All the world now watches the Belarusian league. Everybody should go to their television and see us.

“When the NHL closed the season, a lot of ice hockey players went to Russia to play. Maybe Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo might come to the Belarus league to continue. You know?

December 2006, incredible EPL Goal of the Month comp

Meet Mr Bling: He makes art with 200,000 crystals for Footballers

Mauricio Benitez, better known as Mr Bling, has been creating celebrity portraits made out of Swarovski crystals since 2010, after initially experimenting with bejewelled clothing.

He received worldwide acclaim three years later, when a glitzy piece he gifted Barcelona legend Lionel Messi went viral, and was claimed to be worth £34 million ($A68m).

Since then, the greatest names in football have commissioned Mr Bling artwork, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, David Beckham, Ronaldinho, and Diego Maradona – some paying up to £150,000 for the privilege ($A300,000).

He revealed Messi was the first footballer he worked with – and says Ronaldo has THREE of his artworks. (TheSun)

A-League star’s teary apology over breaking quarantine for drink-driving joy ride

Wellington Phoenix midfielder Tim Payne has tearfully apologised for breaking Covid-19 quarantine in Australia when he drunkenly drove a golf buggy along a Sydney street.

Payne and his passenger in the buggy, teammate Oliver Sail, face the prospect of a heavy fine or suspension over the escapade in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"I'm incredibly sorry and incredibly embarrassed," Payne told New Zealand's Radio Sport.

"I take full responsibility for my actions and what unfolded on that night ... I 100% fully expect there to be repercussions." (TheGuardian)

Experts link Champions League game to Italy's coronavirus outbreak: 'A biological bomb'

Northern Italy is the epicenter of one of the world’s worst coronavirus clusters. Officials are looking back to a Feb. 19 Champions League game between Atalanta and Spain’s Valencia in Milan as a catalyst.

What happened on Feb. 19

Atalanta plays in Bergamo, a small city in Northern Italy. Its home stadium seats around 21,000 people and didn’t meet UEFA’s standards for the high-profile game. So the team hosted the game at Milan’s San Siro Stadium.

According to the Associated Press, more than 40,000 Bergamo residents made the 37-mile road trip to Milan that day as the coronavirus was on the fringes of Italy’s radar.

Fans mingled, celebrated and hugged as Atalanta secured a 4-1 victory in the first leg. They eventually traveled home, many in tightly packed public transportation vehicles.

Now the city of around 120,000 people has 7,000 coronavirus cases with 1,000 confirmed deaths.

‘A biological bomb’

Many are pointing the Feb. 19 Champions League game as the reason why, Fabiano di Marco included. Di Marco is the chief pneumologist at Bergamo’s hospital.

(YahooSports)

Punters are getting desperate

🎮 E-Sports

Try Rocket League

Rocket League is one of the fastest-growing esports today, with its games on Twitch averaging more than 100,000 viewers per match. 🤯

To go along with a loyal fan base and a growing audience, the three-on-three fusion between football and Mad Max is one of the easier games to pick up as well, with it having a low floor to enjoy but a high ceiling on display whenever watching the pros play the game.

Match you need to watch: RLCS Season 5 Grand Finals (NRG Esports vs. Dignitas)

🐴 Racing

Jockey Mark Zahra returns negative test for coronavirus

The COVID-19 test taken by jockey Mark Zahra has come back negative, paving the way for racing to resume in Victoria and elsewhere.

Zahra's coronavirus scare arose after he was advised by health authorities that he was on the same commercial flight as a person who was later confirmed to be a COVID-19 case.

The Australian racing industry was holding its breath over the status of Zahra's health, with the outcome having big implications on whether the industry would continue on amid the coronavirus pandemic, before confirmation of the negative test was received late on Thursday night from Racing Victoria. 

A positive result would have led to a significant amount of contact tracing and the continued suspension of racing in several jurisdictions.

The negative test results pave the way for racing to recommence, with both Racing Victoria and Racing NSW having earlier declared their intent to resume racing should the outcome of the tests prove favourable.

Meetings at Warrnambool and Pakenham (twilight) will now proceed as scheduled on Friday in Victoria under the strict COVID-19 protocols governing the conduct of racing. (Punters)

🇦🇺 AFL

Dumped AFL coaches ‘told to apply for Centrelink’ as solution to pay cut crisis coming ‘very soon’

The negotiations between the AFL and its players are continuing.

And Gillon McLachlan is among those at AFL House putting his hand up to take a pay cut.

Assistant Coaches 'told to apply for Centrelink'

Almost every AFL assistant coach has been stood down and they’ve reportedly been told to apply for the federal government's Centrelink payments or manual labour jobs.

The Herald Sun reports AFL Coaches Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw has informed his members they are eligible for financial support from the government.

He also said the clubs have acted within their legal rights to stand down their employees in an effort to cut costs during the coronavirus shutdown.

“We are also helping them to become aware of some of the federal governments initiatives that people that have been stood down can get access to, including superannuation and Services Australia opportunities.

“We have also invited them to put their hand up for short-term manual labour-type jobs that some industries are looking for.”

However Collingwood will help its staff through the shutdown period by paying them two days a week.

Back on Monday!

📺 Sport on TV

It's just the 🐴 Horse racing, 🐎 Harness Racing and 🐕 Greyhounds, from a live sport point of view.

There'll be plenty of old re-runs of sport on TV, I'm sure.

Maybe you could use this time to get to know the people you live with?

That's what I'm doing, and my Wife seems nice so far, we'll see how it goes.