Thursday, November 18, 2021
“Vaccination is the only chance”
The Bundesliga is a grotesque picture
Professional football continues to rely on full stadiums and the 2G rule – outbreaks in the teams show that 2G alone does not bring complete security. In other sports leagues, too, there are those affected and many discussions.
The amateur sport is partly at a standstill, with the professionals more and more cancellations due to numerous infections – but despite the escalation of the infection rate, the masses are allowed to pour into the stadiums of the Bundesliga. Of the nine games of the weekend, Borussia Dortmund against VfB Stuttgart still has the lowest occupancy at 82 percent, which in absolute numbers corresponds to 67,000 spectators and thus almost the new corona infections in Germany registered by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday .
The clubs – which, of course, only implement what politics dictates – apparently see their economic survival as more important and believe that they have found a panacea in the 2G regulation. At least this is what statements like those of Stuttgart’s CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger read in “Kicker”: “A further, general reduction in stadium capacities would exacerbate our economic situation and would also be the wrong way to go when it comes to fighting pandemics.” Football games are not a pandemic driver, said the 39-year-old. “This is shown by the numbers both here in Stuttgart and in the entire league.”
That may be true in relation to whatever numbers. Nevertheless, given the acute warnings from RKI boss Lothar Wieler (“It’s five past twelve”), adventurously high new infections and numerous cases of vaccination breakthroughs, it seems quite absurd. “There hasn’t been a big hearth in a stadium recently, which is positive for our games with the current regulations,” said Bielefeld’s manager Samir Arabi.
After all, some Bundesliga clubs are required to wear a mask across the entire stadium area. The rule, however, is that the mask can be removed at the site. This is also how it is practiced at the Union Berlin stadium, which consists mostly of standing space, in the derby against Hertha BSC on Saturday. A surreal situation, but apparently well thought out for the approvers in politics. “It’s a 2G event, so it can be justified because the rules are very strict,” said Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel. These very strict rules state, among other things, that wearing the mask in the field is only a recommendation.
Eight players are missing, at the end there is a 1:10
Paradoxically, football itself shows that 2G is not the ideal solution. Third division club 1. FC Magdeburg reported 13 infected players on Wednesday – all of them had been vaccinated or recovered. Bayern Munich will have to do without Croatian international Josip Stanisic at FC Augsburg on Friday, who has been vaccinated twice, has recovered and yet tested positive. 1. FC Kaiserslautern also reported several positive cases, at the beginning of the month second division Sandhausen made the headlines with 18 positive results.
The handball season is interrupted in the corona hotspot Saxony, and all games of the coming weekend in amateur football are canceled. The Adler Mannheim from the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) continue to play despite eight corona cases – and during the week they won a 1:10 against Sweden’s top club Frölunda in the first leg of the Champions Hockey League. The second division handball clubs Eisenach, Coburg and Ludwigshafen have already canceled games, with the Thuringians suffering the worst with ten cases.
Cancellations and postponements have become something of a routine. “We are not relaxed, but neither are we hectic. We have been dealing with this dynamic situation openly and transparently for one and three quarters of years,” said League President Uwe Schwenker. The club officials of the 1st and 2nd league agree every 14 days. Economically, you can get there “with state aid” until the turn of the year.
There has not yet been a game cancellation in the basketball Bundesliga, but due to the stricter corona regulations, the number of spectators is expected to decrease, which will be difficult to cope with economically. “That is why my appeal to politicians is: We have to talk specifically about extending and increasing the Corona aid,” said Ludwigsburg’s Alexander Reil, President of the Liga-AG, and made it clear: Vaccination is “the only chance to get out of this situation again in the long term to come out. “