Belarus is the only country in Europe to keep football rolling despite the Corona crisis. But more and more fans are staying at home, and some of them are being called upon to do so by the clubs.
“If we stay at home, we reduce the risk of infection, we protect ourselves and our loved ones,” said a statement by first division club Neman Grodno. The team then kicked in front of 253 spectators on Friday. The 1-1 draw against the bottom of Belschina Bobruisk was virtually closed to the public, with an average of 1,500 spectators attending Grodno’s home games in the previous season.
Before the start of the Friday game, the Grodno players applauded in front of empty ranks – almost as an incentive for the attachment to continue to stay at home. Only about two weeks ago, the Grodno fans had proclaimed a fan boycott similar to that of Shakhtar Soligorsk.
The “Sky Stammtisch 2.0” with Toni Pfeffer, Manuel Ortlechner, Marc Janko and Walter Kogler
National player warns
The league has more viewers than ever on television. As one of the few leagues still playing worldwide, it even secured several international television contracts in the corona crisis. Grodno coach Eduard Gradobojew doesn’t help that much. “Football is for spectators. Of course it’s a problem, ”he said.
Nikolai Zolotov, a Belarusian who kicks in the Russian upper house for Ural Yekaterinburg, harshly criticized the continuation of the league. In an interview, he compared the situation to that at the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. At that time, the Soviet government tried to cover up the extent of the accident for a long time. “Nobody really knows how many people are sick, where they are and how they are treated,” Solotov was quoted as saying. “Has nothing really changed in 34 years?”
LIVEBLOG: This is how the corona virus affects the sports world
Around 2,226 coronavirus cases have been registered in the ex-Soviet republic, which has been authoritarian since 1994, by head of state Alexander Lukashenko. 23 infected people have died. The numbers have risen rapidly in the Eastern European country in recent days. The leadership in Minsk was heavily criticized nationally and internationally because football matches continued to be played in front of a large audience and hardly any measures were taken to contain them. Lukashenko downplayed the problem as “psychosis” and tried to explain why he does not rely on strict quarantine measures: Of course he could, he explained to officials on Tuesday, “but what will we eat?”
(APA)
Entry picture: GEPA
–
–
