Nothing brought the reality of Covid-19's sweeping reign of terror in society to the sports community than SuperSport isiXhosa commentator Kaunda Ntunja's death.
Sure, former Marseille president Pape Diouf dying in April last year, and Pep Guardiola losing his mother to the virus the same month, brought the spotlight onto the pandemic's devastating effects.
But it was still something that felt far away from South African sport. That it was going to be managed and everyone, for the most part, would be OK.