By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – The whole concept of resuming top-flight football, which has split public opinion down the middle both on sporting and moral grounds, has suffered a blow with the entire squad of Dynamo Dresden, who play in the second tier of German football, put into two-week isolation after two players tested positive for coronavirus.
Germany plans to restart competitive games on May 16, the first of the Big Five European leagues to do so after a two-month suspension.
But the risks involved have been laid bare by the Dresden case with their first game back against Hanover 96 immediately postponed before a ball has even been kicked. The positive results for COVID-19 were found in a third series of tests as part of the league’s strict hygiene protocol.
“In the past few weeks, we have made enormous efforts in terms of personnel and logistics in order to strictly implement all the prescribed medical and hygienic measures,” said Dynamo sports manager Ralf Minge. “We are in contact with the responsible health authority and the DFL (German Football League) to coordinate all further steps. The fact is that we can neither train nor participate in the game in the next 14 days.”
“Due to the quarantine measures, (the club) will not be able to travel to Lower Saxony for the away game on matchday 26 as planned,” a club statement added.
The Bundesliga announced last week that it would restart after being given the green light by the government. The league has drawn up a detailed set of guidelines in order to keep the risk of transmitting the virus to a minimum.
But the Dresden case throws up exactly the type of obstacles that can occur and is bound to be noted by other major leagues considering a resumption behind closed doors and using Germany’s situation as a benchmark.
Peter Dabrock, the former chairperson of the German Ethics Council, criticised the decision to resume professional football which critics feel is being pursued mainly for financial reasons.
“It will have a fatal effect on the overall compliance with the restrictions,” Dabrock told the DPA news agency.
“If the mantra is no contact, (keep) distance, hygiene, protection, but then of all things you allow a sport in which none of this can be adhered to from the beginning, then of course it will have the effect that people ask themselves, ‘Why do I have to stick to such restrictions?’”
DFL chief executive Christian Seifert said the aim was still to end the season.
“We said from the beginning that this is something we have to be prepared for,” said Seifert. “If a 14-day quarantine is now scheduled, then we have to deal with it next week in the spirit of the game plan.”
“At the moment, however, this does not upset our timetable. The DFL has been working on this concept for a long time and we have always stressed that it is the local health authorities that decide on each individual case, on each team.”
“For the 2nd division, where 81 matches are still to be played, two of Dynamo Dresden’s matches cannot be played at the moment. But we are not changing our goal to finish the season.”
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