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What connects men on ice 
with a backhand slice?

In the two years between 1918-1920, the Spanish flu killed more people than had died in the first world war.

The fact that it wasn’t actually Spanish (Spain just reported on it as a neutral country not subjected to war-time censorship) didn’t matter. Neither did the fact it wasn’t normal seasonal flu. Instead it was a full blown zoonotic disease – the first known example of the H1N1 virus spreading from birds to humans. 1

  • Pandemics stops play

    As the pandemic took hold in every continent from Alaska to Australia, it proved particularly deadly to fitter people between the ages of 20 and 40, whose strong immune response proved more deadly than the disease itself.

    Sadly, players in Canadian National Hockey League were no exception and in 1919 the prestigious Stanley Cup ice hockey finals had to be cancelled as members of the Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans succumbed to the disease.2

    Roll forward 100 years and the world was once again reminded of what a zoonotic disease can do in the form of COVID-19. 

    As players once again fell ill and public confidence collapsed, organisers of the world-famous Wimbledon tennis championships faced the same difficult decision as their Stanley Cup counterparts  a hundred years earlier. Choosing to prioritise public health and safety, the organisers cancelled the 2020 Wimbledon Championships for the first time since World War II. 3

  • Insurance makes a difference

    While these stories are strongly connected, there is one crucial difference.

    Where the Stanley Cup was cancelled with no safety net, the All England Lawn Tennis Club had been investing in protection with pandemic insurance since 2003, following the SARS outbreak. This meant that a significant portion of the financial losses from the event cancellation were covered. 

    The final insurance payout of over £100 million4 helped mitigate losses from media rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales. While insurance can’t prevent bad things happening, it can support organisations to bounce back.

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1- The Spanish flu: The global impact of the largest influenza pandemic in history - Our World in Data

2- When the Stanley Cup Final Was Canceled Because of a Pandemic

3- Wimbledon cancelled due to coronavirus - where does that leave tennis in 2020

4- Wimbledon Shows How Pandemic Insurance Could Become Vital for Sports, Other Events