Too many sports were deferential after the Queen’s death. They must learn from this

During the middle ages, flagellants would remove their white robes adorned with a red cross, kneel on the ground, and then vigorously whip themselves in public displays of fervour. Some sports appear to have been taking notes. Since the Queen’s death, we have seen the FA stop grassroots football, the Premier League ask for applause at 70 minutes to celebrate the length of Elizabeth II’s reign, and British Cycling bizarrely tell people not to ride during the state funeral, before performing a rapid U-turn. These are some of the biggest beasts in British sport. And they have looked frit.

Frit because such decisions were not based on logic, public sentiment, or government advice – which stressed that there was no obligation to cancel or postpone events during the period of national mourning – but a nebulous and ill-defined sense of wanting to do “the right thing”.

Yet no one was telling the sport to stop. In fact, when I spoke to senior officials on the night of the Queen’s death, their expectation was that most of them, including the Premier League, would carry on. Twelve hours later, the fear of getting it wrong had persuaded football, boxing and cycling to pull the plug.

Why? Partly it is due to a timidity and deference towards the royal family, not only in sport but across society, that appear timeless. Perhaps the best explanation for what we have seen over the past 11 days was given by a senior BBC News executive, more than 25 years ago, when asked by the Guardian about plans for the Queen Mother’s death. “The view is that the people you upset by not going over the top about her death would be upset for longer – and with more consequence – than the people you would upset by going over the top about it,” he replied.

Th