The world of sport is united in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic … that is, it seems, except the Premier League which was today branded a ‘moral vacuum’ according to one British politician today.

The original plan for this article to focus solely on the ‘good’ that sport is achieving … but it’s obvious that the ‘bad’ needs addressing too.

Let’s start with the good. In Formula One, as I reported on GDNlife the other day, world champions Mercedes have committed to providing thousands of breathing devices to UK hospitals.

Meanwhile, a consortium of other teams have banded together to develop ventilators, the life-saving breathing apparatus used for patients fighting the respiratory virus.

Haas F1, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Racing Point, Renault Sport Racing and Williams have joined forces with the likes of Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens to produce the ventilators, which the UK is short of.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said yesterday: “F1's ability to problem-solve is second to none and our ability to make rapid prototype parts is again second to none.

"So not just our team but all the teams have responded in a phenomenal way. I can only judge what's going on in our facility, and the efforts that the engineering team and R&D and manufacturing have put into this have been exemplary.

"Basically, we've been using the engineering skill of the relevant people to problem solve and knock out a few rapid prototypes and get it to the point of sign-off."

In the NBA, team owners and star players such as LeBron James have donated a significant portion of their wages to pay stadium and non-playing staff while all matches are suspended.

The same is true of the MLB and it is widely expected the NFL, whose players are some of the highest paid in any sport, will follow suit.

With football on hold across the world, Juventus' first-team squad including Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Maurizio Sarri have agreed to give up four months' wages to help the club manage the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Juventus say the agreement – equal to the monthly payments for March, April, May and June – will save the club a total of €90 million (BD37m). Ronaldo had already donated US$1m to help fight coronavirus in his native Portugal.

Other countries have followed suit. Unfortunately, the same level of benevolence hasn’t touched the Premier League and it’s starting to rile some politicians.

Julian Knight, the chair of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport committee, earlier today condemned the actions of some clubs, who have furloughed non-playing staff.

Tottenham, Newcastle and Norwich have opted to utilise the government’s job retention scheme during the pandemic.

“It sticks in the throat,” said Knight.

“This exposes the crazy economics in English football and the moral vacuum at its centre.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also stuck the boot in, arguing that top-flight players should be the ones to carry the burden.

“My view is always that those who are the least well-off should get the most help,” he said.

“Highly paid football players are people who can carry the greatest burden and they should be the first ones to, with respect, sacrifice their salary, rather than the person selling the programme or the person who does catering or the person who probably doesn’t get anywhere near the salary some of the Premier League footballers get.

“It should be those with the broadest shoulders who go first because they can carry the greatest burden and have probably got savings, rather than those who work in catering or hospitality who have probably got no savings and live week by week and who probably won’t get the government benefits for five weeks.”

The current inaction of the Premier League’s top brass does seem extremely reckless when teams further down the pyramid are facing financial ruin and administration because the lack of match day income and TV money has crippled their finances.

Why can players at Championship leaders Leeds United volunteer to take a wage deferral and Birmingham City players who earn more than £6,000 a week take a 50 per cent cut for the next four months, but Premier League stars who earn north of £200,000 not?

This has the potential to turn into one of the gravest PR disasters in the Premier League's history, at a time when it’s already struggling with the potential loss of income if the season cannot be resumed.

By furloughing non-playing staff while continuing to keep squads on full pay, they’ve already caused an outcry, but this could have lasting consequences for years, even decades.

In my opinion, there should be major pressure on players and the Players Football Association to agree to a deal that would see the big money stars have their pay deferred or even cut as has happened at clubs in Europe.

If not, the sport might find itself with far fewer fans than it used to.