Tuesday, November 16, 2021
What associations demand from politics
Is the sport now canceled again?
The corona situation deteriorates dramatically and the prime ministers meet again on Thursday. Your decisions should also have an impact on sport. The clubs are already afraid of motionlessness again. And what about the stadium visit?
These are the abbreviations that have long been a part of the well-being and woe in sport in Corona times: MPK, 2G, 3G, 2G plus. Goals, points, results and table standings are one thing, since the pandemic other factors have also counted. And on this Thursday, everyone from top football officials to ice hockey, handball and basketball to those responsible for popular sports will once again be entranced by the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK).
There is no shortage of appeals from practically all sides. “The mistake of the previous year, when the extensive closure of gaming and sports facilities and the contact restrictions condemned the approximately 27 million members of sports clubs and all other people in Germany to immobility, should not be repeated,” said the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, Alfons Hörmann, in a communication.
“Despite the difficult infection situation, there must be no restrictions whatsoever for those who have been vaccinated or recovered from exercising”, demanded the DOSB as the umbrella organization of 90,000 clubs with a total of around 27 million members. He also claimed an “outdoor sports guarantee for everyone”. According to the DOSB, this means: For outdoor sports, a maximum of 3G may apply – in other words: recovered, vaccinated or tested. For indoor sports, the association considers 2G – vaccinated or recovered – to be sensible.
“Maybe afterwards to the pub together”
“Outside areas are always less critical than inside areas,” said Professor Jan Rupp, director of the Infectious Disease and Microbiology Clinic on the Lübeck campus of the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital, recently told the “Kieler Nachrichten”. “If you control it well, the stadium is not a problem because you are outside and you can keep your distance.” But the problems can come before and after a game. “Some of them meet in front of the stadium and stand close together at the stadium, after which they might go to the pub together,” said Rupp.
At the beginning of September, the DFL took stock of the partial return of spectators to the stadiums. In the 73 games organized by the German Football League, there had been six positive corona tests. “If it is still being communicated that soccer games are potential super-spreader events and that it is dangerous to go to them, that is deliberately wrong in the meantime,” said DFL boss Christian Seifert at the time.
Two months later, however, the corona numbers in Germany have changed dramatically. At the beginning of the week, the incidence rose to over 300 for the first time. The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, had already emphasized on Friday that it was “five past twelve”. The fourth wave is now hitting Germany with full force. It is therefore questionable whether the DFL balance sheet would last. Especially since more and more spectators have been allowed in the stadiums since then.
If major events were carried out, then only with the maximum security that is currently available. “It would be best if we canceled major events, quite clearly,” said Wieler, particularly with regard to major events indoors.
Another stop of gaming operations?
It is a complex situation in which a lot is at stake again for sport. “You can run up the test scenarios again. And if there were a lockdown again, that would probably be the easiest for the game,” said the head of the German Ice Hockey League, Gernot Tripke, recently of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”: “Only it comes then economically to a catastrophe. “
In the corresponding aid pot, 165 million of the planned 400 million euros are still available. But you only have to tap into it if it really comes to a renewed stoppage of the game, said the boss of the handball Bundesliga, Frank Bohmann, the Deutschlandfunk.
In sport, too, there seemed to have been a certain return to normal for many. For example, the explosive capital derby between 1. FC Union and Hertha BSC in Berlin-Köpenick is to take place in front of full stands in the An der Alten Försterei stadium for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, albeit with restrictions – i.e. 2G.
After the German national team beat Liechtenstein 9-0 in Wolfsburg, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” headlined, referring to the liberated and good mood: “Party in the pandemic”. How good the mood will be after the MPK this Thursday, however, remains to be seen.