Former England captain Bill Beaumont won a second four-year term as head of the sport's global governing body by beating Argentine Augustin Pichot 28-23 in a ballot of the World Rugby Council with the result announced on Saturday.

I know we are all desperate for football to resume but are we so desperate that we turn a sport that we cherish for its escapism, its tribalism and its beauty into a giant sterile zone ringed by a cordon sanitaire where the ruling passions are fear and cynicism?

Footballers in Spain will return to training tomorrow in the first phase of a four-stage plan La Liga hopes will see its remaining 11 rounds of fixtures played behind closed doors from June 13.