Football Clubs Are Filling The Void With Closely-Fought Games Of Connect 4

As the number of sporting events postponed or cancelled grows because of coronavirus, fans have been left to wonder "what do I do with my life now?". 

Thankfully, football clubs are stepping up to fill the void.

On Saturday night, German Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen answered a fan's plea to play Connect 4 on Twitter. But when Leverkusen's opponent tapped out of the match, English Championship side Hull City stepped in.

What followed was nearly three hours of a hotly-contested match between the two European sides, complete with commentary.

"The boys are now moving the ball wide. Could this be the start of a decent-looking move for the Tigers?" said Hull City after one spectacular play.

Even BBC Match of the Day got in on the action, live-tweeting updates.

Soon #HULB04 on Twitter became the place to be for fans looking for their weekend football fix.

Hull City walked away winners from the first Twitter Connect 4, and for a team that is struggling in the Championship it obviously meant a lot to get a win, with celebrations going well into Sunday morning.

It was a tough blow for Leverkusen, with a spokesperson saying after the match the team had fallen apart at the end.

"Definitely need to work on making more meaningful connections in our build-up. We'll do a full analysis and try to remain positive. We go again sometime soon," a club spokesperson said.

The trend has since grown, with English side Bristol City beating Willem II Tilburg, who play in the Dutch top tier Eredivisie.

With Australian sport in limbo, we had a taste of what might be to come on Monday morning, when the first Aussie version of Twitter Connect 4 took place.

A-Leagues Memes (ALM), the perennial meme-making social media presence of the A-League, put an open offer out to clubs in Australia for a Connect 4 match.

ALM got off to a good start, swatting away Melbourne City in a game lasting just over an hour.

But they couldn't back up the performance against Brisbane Roar, after a particularly bad move in the 60th minute.

Noughts and Crosses is also becoming popular, with Premier League clubs Manchester City and Southampton going head-to-head.

Both sides were evenly matched and each walked away with a point after a 0-all scoreline.

So, Australian sport may not be cancelled (yet), but at least we know what we to look forward to.