It's a sacred, tribal experience that, 32 years after reporting on my first Knights match, will hopefully never get old.

Even during the lean years, of which both the Knights and the Jets have endured more than their fair share, there was invariably a collective buzz of pre-match anticipation and optimism among supporters I regard as the most parochial and passionate in Australia.

Yet now, after an unprecedented global crisis, fans face the inexplicable prospect of being unable to obtain their footballing fix for the foreseeable future.

Saturday's season opener between the Knights and the Warriors will proceed, as scheduled, but from Monday onwards, all NRL matches will be played in empty stadiums, indefinitely.

A-League, AFL, Super Rugby and all other codes are likely to follow suit.

We had seen this trend unfolding overseas, firstly with Italian soccer, but it seemed a world away.

Sure, the coronavirus pandemic was snowballing in other countries, but that was their problem. Down here in Oz, we'll be sweet.

Or so some of us thought, at least up until the last couple of days, when mind-boggling developments started to multiply exponentially.

A Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal was postponed, and soon afterwards news surfaced that Gunners manager Mikel Arteta had tested positive to the virus.

America's NBA basketball season was suspended, with the play-offs looming on the horizon, and all other codes in the US quickly fell into line, followed by other massive sports, such as international tennis, golf and motor racing.

When the Australian formula one grand prix was called off, and it was announced that the trans-Tasman one-day cricket series would be played behind closed doors, suddenly it became blatantly obvious that our various brands of football would be next in line.

Playing on, under a stadium-lockout policy, strikes me as a bandaid solution.

It will allow games to be televised, at least temporarily, which will suit both the broadcasters and the governing bodies that rely so heavily on TV revenue.

But how long will closed-door matches continue once a player, coach or referee tests positive to the virus?

Any team, or teams, impacted would presumably have to enter a quarantine period, at which point the entire credibility of the competition will be compromised.

It won't be feasible to have one or two clubs forfeiting games, or fielding vastly depleted line-ups. As soon as one player is infected, and hence potentially his teammates, it will surely be game over for every other team, at least until the authorities declare it is safe for normal service to resume.

The great unknown is how long all this will take.

Consider the English Premier League, for instance.

After a remarkable season, leaders Liverpool are 25 points clear of their nearest rivals, Manchester City.

The Merseysiders, who have won 27 and drawn one of their first 29 games, basically need two victories from their remaining nine fixtures to win their first league title in 30 years.

Yet what happens if this crisis continues, or indeed worsens, over the next weeks and months? At what point does the Premier League have to abandon the season?

And if so, do they award Liverpool a trophy that is not quite signed, sealed and delivered?

It's a horrible conundrum and Liverpool fans, who are no strangers to injustice, would no doubt be devastated if they are denied a long-overdue Premier League title. By the same token, they would presumably find it a tad hollow to accept the tag of "champions" for a season that is only three-quarters finished.

Then there is the issue of whether players, who are stimulated by big crowds, will be able to perform at the same level in front of thousands of vacant seats.

"I don't think we need to play in front of crowds," South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett said yesterday. "We train pretty hard and we never get a crowd at training.

"I know players well enough to know they are all competitive. If you tell them ... it is going to be televised live throughout Australia then they will do their job."

But as basketball legend LeBron James said last week: "We play games without the fans? Nah. Impossible.

"I ain't playing if you don't have the fans in the crowd. That's who I play for ... if I show up to the arena and there ain't no fans in there? I ain't playing."

James has subsequently backtracked on those comments, saying if the medical experts "feel it's best for the safety of the players, safety of the franchise, safety of the league to mandate that, then we all listen to it".

Maybe in a month or two, this will all have petered out, or doctors will have developed a game-changing vaccine.

Alternatively, all elite-level sport around the world may have ground to a halt and clubs will be facing financial disaster.

In the meantime, the only conclusion to reach is that if you're a Knights fan, Saturday will be your last chance to attend a game for God knows how long.

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