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Soccer, Sports

Facing the consequences of the second wave in the Premier League

by Karan Kumar on

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On Oct. 13, The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced that Cristiano Ronaldo had tested positive for COVID-19. Before the test results were released, Ronaldo had been with the Portuguese national team playing in the UEFA Nations League. He has since returned to his home in Turin, Italy, where he is self-isolating. 

“Ronaldo was released from the work of the National Team after a positive test for COVID-19, so he will not face Sweden,” the FPF said in a statement. “The Portuguese international is doing well, without symptoms, and in isolation.” 

Although Ronaldo’s diagnosis attracted significant media attention, it is just one event in a series of adverse COVID-19 consequences for professional soccer in Europe. Due to the pandemic, soccer leagues across Europe have had to readjust how the game is played. In addition to having no spectators, these adjustments include rescheduling league matches and mandatory COVID-19 testing for players and staff. 

The onset of the second wave of COVID-19 in Europe means that soccer leagues must take place in empty stadiums. The United Kingdom government’s directive of spectator-free stadiums has been in place since May to prevent the spread of the virus. Soccer games without spectators have significantly impacted players’ motivation. Dimitar Berbatov, a retired Manchester United striker, believes that playing in empty stadiums affects player performance. 

“[Playing behind closed doors] can affect your performance when you go out there, and there are no fans,”  Berbatov said in an interview with Betfair. “[Even though] it’s a serious game, your body and mind can tell you it’s a practice game, which can lead to bad games and performances.” 

According to a University of Reading study, matches ending in a home win fell from 43.8 per cent to 41.2 per cent after fans were no longer allowed to attend games. Joshua Kimmich, a defender and midfielder for Bayern Munich, noted these differences.

”[When the stadium is full], you [feel] more [excited] when you score a goal,” Kimmich said in an interview with Psychology Today. “It’s more emotional when there are fans.”

The pandemic has also revealed the vulnerabilities of clubs in the lower leagues. Many clubs are struggling to survive, as their primary source of revenue comes from spectators. The Premier League acknowledged clubs’ financial fragility in the lower leagues and has devised an action plan to support those in need. 

“League One and League Two clubs rely more heavily on matchday revenue and have fewer resources at their disposal than Championship or Premier League clubs, and are therefore more at risk, especially at a time when fans are excluded from attending matches,” said the Premier League in a statement. “This offer [of financial assistance] will consist of grants and interest-free loans totalling a further $50 million pounds on top of the $27.2 million pounds in solidarity payments already advanced to League One and League Two this year.”

The mental health of athletes, whether in soccer or any other sport, must also be considered during this unusual season. Managers and clubs need to start paying attention to mental health as leagues across Europe persevere through the ongoing pandemic. Many players are away from their home and playing in foreign countries. Pundits and critics, who remain overly critical of players’ performances, do not always consider that these players are working in an unprecedented situation. The pressure to win should not be an excuse to neglect the mental wellbeing of players.

 “Your athletes are more resilient when they know how to manage their emotions,” Dr. John Sullivan, a clinical sports psychologist, noted in an interview with CBS Boston.

As in every other field, officials of the top soccer leagues in Europe need to understand the changes in the game at a deeper level. The impact of this pandemic goes beyond just headline-grabbing diagnoses of major stars like Ronaldo. The effect of spectator-free stadiums on players, the financial viability of clubs in lower leagues, and players’ mental health are key areas for management to work on as the restrictions with the pandemic continue for the foreseeable future.

Features

From across the fence

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Don’t lie—I know you’ve observed your neighbours without them knowing. I do it, too. Montreal is full of neighbours peeking into each other’s lives, often without acknowledgement; after all, we are all strangers thrown into a shared space and compelled to coexist. And we all have windows, so naturally, we look out and look in.

Cait: “The neighbour above us often can see into our window because we don’t close our shades, and he mentioned to our friend, who’s his coworker, that he just sees us doing things all the time. We have dinner at our kitchen table, we sit on the couch, we make breakfast in our underwear and it’s not a big deal to us, but he just sees all of it. I don’t feel like I’m being watched, but there is [always] an element of ‘Oh, Mateo can see us anytime.’”

Science & Technology

Taking a virtual tour of McGill’s stones and fossils

by Ibani Kapur on

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The earliest forms of life on Earth date back approximately 4 billion years. In an attempt to uncover the events leading to the development of life, scientists study sedimentary rocks and the fossils contained within them to uncover and map the history of living organisms through the ages. In Montreal, evidence of this complex history is present in the stones used to construct some of McGill’s most famous buildings. These buildings preserve evidence of fossilized creatures, some of which are over 250 million years old.  

On Sept. 26, McGill’s Redpath Museum hosted a guided online walking tour of building stones and fossils led by Ingrid Birker, Public Program and Education Co-ordinator at the Redpath Museum, and Meghomita Das, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. The virtual tour began at the Redpath steps and took the audience around McGill’s downtown campus and the surrounding area, discussing various fossils and the geological periods in which they were formed.

Das presented the audience with images of various stones containing fossils. As she pointed out, Trenton limestone, one of the materials used in the construction of the Redpath Museum and other buildings in downtown Montreal and across Canada, contains shells from a group of invertebrates called Brachiopods.

“Trenton limestone is very commonly used for building purposes and is about 470 million years old,” Das said. 

Next, the tour moved to the geological rock garden situated right outside the museum’s steps. Ammonite, an invertebrate fossil that dates from the Jurassic period 200 million years ago was one of the many displays in the garden. The modern-day relatives of this fossil are cephalopods like squids and octopi.

Heading down McTavish Street to the McGill Faculty Club, Das explained the geological history of the materials used to make the building.

“[The Club] has red clay bricks, which were left to dry in the sun, and some cat from 100 years ago decided to walk on it and left behind its paw prints,” Das said.  

Though the clay bricks that compose the building’s facade are synthetically produced, Das pointed out that, under close observation, some naturally formed fossils are still apparent. 

“Blemishes that stand out enable differentiation of fossils from normal rocks,” Das said in an email to The McGill Tribune. “The purpose of this tour was to guide people and show them how the intricate patterns and shapes of fossils give an account of their history.”  

Demonstrating this idea, Das showed the spirals of a sea snail present along the sidewalks of the Mount Royal Club.

Holt Renfrew on de la Montagne Street, the next stop on the virtual tour, provided another example of captivating patterns. 

“Looking closely at the sidewalls, tiny broken calcite discs can be seen, which belong to crinoids, also known as sea lilies,” Das said. “[The] closest Crinoids today are urchins and sea cucumbers.”

Moving on to the Le Chateau Apartments on Sherbrooke Street, Das expressed her excitement for the location’s many potential fossil hiding spots. 

“This [is] my favourite fossil hunting spot,” Das said. “Every wall has a different kind of fossil, namely gastropods, corals, cephalopods, all from different time periods.” 

Das also pointed out the brown patches on the wall, which were burrows made by animals that eventually became fossilized. 

The tour concluded at the Peter Lyall House, which was built using 260-million-year-old sandstone brought to Canada from Scotland in 1889. Though the stones of the Peter Lyall House do not have fossils, Das explained that the building has other geological features that make it significant to scientists. 

“It has an interesting weathering pattern like an onion peel,” Das said.“This pattern is often developed due to continuous freeze thaw cycling action.”

In closing, Das provided her own expert advice for amateur fossil hunters.

“For anyone [interested in] fossil finding: If you do find one, take a picture, if [that’s] possible.” Das said. “Identify the shape and use guides online, which sometimes help you load images, thereby identifying what fossil it is.”

Commentary, Opinion

McGill’s funding system harms international students

by Michael Dickinson on

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In 2018, Quebec controversially deregulated tuition for international students at the province’s universities, allowing schools to set their own rates. Over the past several years, McGill has gradually raised international fees, a trend that has continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. While tuition this year for most McGill programs increased by 3.1 per cent, some international graduate students have seen their dues rise by 30 per cent. International students bear the brunt of tuition hikes because of both the way McGill is funded and Quebec’s political history, but a more equitable solution is possible: International students can pay more affordable tuition fees if Quebec raises its education budget, and if McGill spends its funds more responsibly.

At first glance, tuition discrepancies based on residency status seem reasonable. The university’s three largest revenue sources are, in order, the provincial government, student tuition, and the federal government. Quebec residents pay the lowest amount in tuition fees since their families already pay both provincial and federal taxes. Students from other Canadian provinces also pay reduced tuition, although it is more expensive for them than for in-province students. Since international students and their families do not pay provincial and federal taxes, it seems only fair that they pay a higher rate to fund the university. 

However, part of the reason why McGill has to rely on international students for such a large percentage of its funding is that in-province tuition remains disproportionately low, even after considering taxes. Although Quebec residents pay among the lowest in-province fees in the country, they have made it clear that they are opposed to significant increases by protesting the provincial government’s attempts to implement hikes. Had the proposed increase of $325 per year for five years been enacted in 2012, by 2017, Quebec’s tuition would have still been the second-lowest in Canada for in-province students. The unwillingness of Quebec residents to pay more has left their province’s universities underfunded. If Quebec’s higher education budget was raised to compensate for its students’ low fees, it would lighten the financial burden of Quebec universities on international students. 

Fundraising from student dues is further hampered by Quebec’s agreements with France and Belgium, which allow French and francophone Belgian undergraduates to pay the Canadian out-of-province tuition rate rather than the international rate. Graduate students from these countries are charged even lower in-province rates. French and Belgian students make up over 14 per cent of McGill’s international student body, and McGill has to recover the money it loses due to this policy by increasing tuition for other international students’ tuition. It is understandable that Quebec wants to promote the French language through immigration from francophone countries, but It would be fairer to eliminate this policy so that having all international students pay an equal rate would be fairer and more sustainable. Lower international prices will ensure that Quebec remains a popular  destination for the students who pay the most.

The university has struggled with funding for years. It needs more money during the pandemic to remain operational and continue offering support services, such as career planning and student health care, and an excellent education. One way to offset these costs without additional tuition hikes would be using more of the funds raised by campaigns such as “Made by McGill” to help students pay for their education. At the moment, only 30 per cent of the campaign’s $2 billion goal is dedicated to scholarships and bursaries. If more funding was used for these initiatives, it could help students who might find additional costs financially challenging.

The nature of McGill’s revenue streams and economic stressors resulting from the pandemic has forced the university into a difficult financial situation. However, McGill cannot expect international students to pay even more when others do not pay enough. To make McGill more affordable, administrators and students alike should demand increases in Quebec’s higher education budget, equal tuition for all international students, and a change in the distribution of funds raised by campaigns. 

Soccer, Sports

In conversation with Noah Eisenberg

by Karan Kumar on

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Born and raised in Montreal, Noah Eisenberg is the first Canadian to sign a contract with a professional soccer team in Wales. The 22-year-old will be playing for Llangefni Town FC as a  centre attacking midfielder. The club was promoted to the Welsh second division in 2018 and currently has one of the youngest squads in the league.

Eisenberg has wanted to be a professional soccer player since he was young. His parents enrolled him in a soccer club when he was only three years old, and he has been playing competitively ever since. 

“As a career, it is [all] I ever wanted to do,” Eisenberg said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

At 17 years old, Eisenberg received a scholarship to attend Tilton School, a college-preparatory school in New Hampshire, where he was exposed to opportunities that helped his professional career trajectory. He played in the United States for three years before a chance to play in Europe came up. After moving to Europe, he spent time training in Belgium with First Division club Waasland-Beveren, and in Northern Ireland with the Derriaghy FC and Lurgan Celtic. Eisenberg noted key differences between soccer in Europe and North America.

“Europe is on another level [in] the way they play, the system, the way the academy feeds into the main team,” Eisenberg said. “I had never experienced anything like this [.…] I decided not to go back [to the United States].” 

Even between countries within Europe, Eisenberg found notable variation in playing style.

“Every country has a different style [….] In Belgium, it was super technical and tactical [….] Northern Ireland was a very physical test. The players were like rugby players,” Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg is currently in Wales, but he has not been able to play a game for Llangefni Town FC due to the temporary suspension of the season during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The season hasn’t been announced yet,” Eisenberg said. “This is terrible [for the teams] as they make all their money on spectators. There are [usually] derbies of 3,000 people in the games.” 

Although there is uncertainty about the coming season, Eisenberg is still looking forward to playing in friendly matches over the next few weeks. On Sept. 13, Llangefni Town FC lost their match against a rival club, Bangor City FC. They will be looking forward to the rematch on Jan. 18.

For inspiration, Eisenberg looks up to David Beckham, a retired English soccer player, as well as Alphonso Davies, a young Canadian soccer sensation in Europe.

“[Like Beckham], shooting is my forte,”  Eisenberg said. “I have a great shot. I can shoot from pretty much anywhere. [Alphonso Davies] is an amazing player. He has really made it for himself. To be a Canadian and to go and play in Europe is incredible.” 

Although Eisenberg is currently playing in Europe, he believes that soccer in Canada has an exciting future. In order to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, FIFA required that Canada have a domestic professional soccer league. Thus, The Canadian Premier League was founded in 2017, with the first season played in 2019. 

“They averaged 7,000 in the games,” Eisenberg said. “It was teams like Hamilton, Halifax, and York. This league is a good opportunity for Canadians. It’s a league I would love to play in too.” 

However, Eisenberg believes that for now, Europe provides a better platform than Canada for starting one’s career as a professional soccer player. 

“For the average Canadian [soccer player, they have] to come to Europe,” Eisenberg said. “In Canada, [soccer] is an activity, and Europe, it’s a culture.”

Science & Technology

UN member nations fail to meet decade-old biodiversity conservation targets

by Cassia Attard on

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In October 2010, 190 UN member countries committed to reaching the Aichi Targets, a set of 20 goals developed to protect earth’s biodiversity. The targets encompassed multiple areas of biodiversity conservation, including sustainable fishing, land use rights, reforestation, public awareness, and more.

On Sept. 14, the United Nations (UN) announced that not one of the Aichi targets were met, marking the second consecutive decade of failure to protect earth’s biodiversity. Since 2010, the outlook for endangered species has only worsened. Coral bleaching has seen a devastating increase, deforestation rates have remained high, and Earth has continued to inch towards its sixth mass extinction as wildlife populations plummet.

Many scientists have attributed this failure to the dip in government funding allocated to biodiversity conservation. In the decade since the Aichi Targets were signed, funding for these efforts has plateaued in many countries. Annual worldwide funding made available to UN countries for  projects related to the Aichi goals is estimated to be between $78 and $91 billion USD, but a UN report states that hundreds of billions of dollars will be necessary to meet the Aichi goals.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Andrew Gonzalez, Professor of Biology at McGill and Founding Director of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, explained the global neglect of the Aichi Targets and the importance of biodiversity.

“There’s no doubt [that] this is an emergency,” Gonzalez said. “These targets are very important. They are the centerpiece for international collaboration and they provide focus for national efforts for conservation.”

While none of the targets were fully achieved, six were partially met, including those related to invasive species and protected lands. Forty-four per cent of biodiverse areas are now protected, an increase from 29 per cent in the year 2000. Two-hundred invasive species on islands have now been eradicated.

“It’s easy to motivate countries to achieve that target,” Gonzalez said. “Progress towards goals is made easier if the targets are easy to implement and progress can be easily assessed. Invasive species are very easy to quantify for economic impact. Many of the other targets are harder to quantify.”

Preserving biodiversity is not solely for the benefit of endangered species. Changes in species richness, the number of species present in a given area over time, is known to have a drastic effect on the human systems that depend on biodiversity. Ocean wildlife provides 50-80 per cent of earth’s oxygen and absorbs 28 per cent of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy is derived from biological resources. Biodiversity can even help to slow climate change. 

“Climate change is impacting biodiversity on land and in the oceans, but the flip-side of the coin is that ecosystems are a sink for carbon,” Gonzalez said. “Terrestrial ecosystems have been a sink for around 20 per cent [of] fossil fuel emissions over the last 30 years. But the destruction of this carbon sink will exacerbate climate change and prevent humanity’s efforts to keep global warming to below two degrees celsius.”

When the Aichi Targets were first set in 2010, they were immediately criticized for lacking ambition. Continuous failure on the part of national governments to meet global sustainability targets has left many people wondering if setting such goals is worthwhile, or if taking a different approach is necessary. Gonzalez argues that global goal-setting remains key.

“People will come together around the targets,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a good thing that people are saying that [the targets] are not effective. [The] process is patchy and partial, but it’s progress nonetheless [….] I believe we need to offer policy and decision makers the knowledge they need to take action and make effective policies. This is about supporting bottom-up approaches in addition to the top-down ones.”

Hope for Earth’s biodiversity can be found in the new Aichi Targets set for 2030, although the looming fear of a third consecutive decade of failure remains.

Editorial, Opinion

Graduate student workers must not be taken for granted

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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The COVID-19 pandemic has toppled the higher-education house of cards, scattering vulnerable academic support staff into uncertain workplace predicaments. McGill forced these employees into dire straits well before the pandemic: Overburdened by faculties and underappreciated by students, the university treats teaching assistants (TAs) and other academic support staff like raw resources rather than salaried workers. With the added pressures of the pandemic, issues like unfair compensation, payment delivery delays, and position reductions are teetering on the verge of an academic support crisis. A cultural transformation is long overdue: The McGill community, from the administrators who negotiate labour contracts to students across faculties, must start treating academic support staff with the respect and compassion that they deserve. 

Despite years of advocacy by their labour union, the Association of Graduate Students Employed by McGill (AGSEM), the administration has still sought to undermine academic support staff’s union rights. Nevertheless, AGSEM voted on Sept. 30 to ratify their collective bargaining agreement with McGill. The new agreement—under which TAs and invigilators secured a pay raise from $29.33 to $33.03 an hour—represents some progress. But it is not enough. 

Many issues remain unaddressed, including McGill’s continued failure to pay some graduate employees for their work. Recently, McGill switched its human resource management software from Minerva to Workday, a more efficient program. However, some TAs still have not been compensated—even though McGill is obligated to pay them within 30 days of hiring them. For McGill to continue to benefit from their labour without compensating them is exploitation. 

McGill seems to be bent on implementing anti-union policies. Over the summer, some faculties replaced TA’s with “graders,” who are not unionized, and, in some cases, paid only half as much. These decisions, which McGill has justified as “cost-cutting measures,” are problematic because many graduate students depend on TA positions to make a living and fund their education. 

In addition to their normal duties, the unique challenges posed by online education have forced TAs to work overtime and master new software and pedagogical practices, all while adapting to their own pandemic-impacted courses structures. Moreover, McGill’s administration advised faculties to replace major projects and exams with a multitude of smaller assignments, meaning that TAs have more work to grade. At the very least, TAs should be compensated for any extra hours worked due to the circumstances of the pandemic. Yet, as it stands, graduate employees are typically only compensated for 180 hours of the work they complete each semester. The result is a flat rate that often places some TAs below the poverty line in Montreal. Further, because TAs are technically McGill employees, they are ineligible for most government unemployment aid programs. 

This is not just a McGill issue: It is an indictment on academia itself. Higher education has long been overshadowed by a forbidding, hierarchical culture that diminishes the humanity of those trapped inside of it. Yet, this cold tradition seems to be accentuated at McGill, where the administration gratuitously works against labour unions fighting to secure the bare minimum for their constituents. Students are not absolved of responsibility either: TA’s are often unfairly criticized by students for course structure problems and harsh grading policies. Undergraduates tend to forget that their TAs are also students navigating the academic landscape, on top of grading coursework and providing assistance outside of the classroom. 

Students can reduce the burden on academic support workers by turning to services like the McGill Writing Center or Computer Science Student Help Desk before reaching out to TA’s. Above all, however, TAs must be respected for their efforts in keeping the semester afloat and assisting students. Still, these remedies alone are not a solution. COVID-19 exposed the overgrowth of injustice that teaching support staff have toiled through for decades, and the McGill community must rally behind AGSEM’s demands to clear the path towards a more equitable institution.

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