India and NATO~I
Of late, the issue is being increasingly talked about in some strategic circles in India.
As Bundesliga returns on Saturday this week, the authorities are warning the fans to stay away and not gather outside the locked venues as that might force them to halt the games.
Bundesliga will become the first major European football competition to resume after getting suspended due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And in Germany, which has the highest average attendances per game in the world, keeping fans away would be a hard nut to crack, accepted the authorities.
In Saxony, where third-placed RB Leipzig will host mid-table Freiburg on Saturday afternoon, the state’s Interior Minister Roland Woeller has issued a clear threat.
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“Fans must not use matches behind closed doors as an excuse to gather in front of the stadiums or elsewhere. This could lead to matches being stopped,” Woeller was quoted as saying by PTI via AFP.
Eintracht Frankfurt have made compassionate appeals to their fans to not break the rules of social distancing. “We’ve talked a lot with our fans and said: ‘listen guys, don’t show up at the stadium’,” Frankfurt’s sports director Fredi Bobic told ESPN.
Under German league rules put in place to resume the season, the home side is responsible for ensuring fans do not try to approach the stadium to support their team from a distance.
Meticulous planning and step by step process saw the clubs in Germany resume training in early May, while more than 1700 players in the top two divisions were tested for COVID-19. Thus it would be a nightmare for the Bundesliga if the fans were to derail the fragile recovery attempt.
The German Football League (DFL) announced the date of return last week after Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday had allowed Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 to resume the 2019-20 season.
The DFL, which is desperate to finish the season by June 30, said that the final round of matches could be played on June 27 and 28.
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