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Shutdown consequences for amateur sport: "The decision has lasting effects on our clubs"

2020-10-29T18:03:17.030Z


Amateur sports are also affected by the corona shutdown. What causes frustration is that many clubs have put a lot of work into hygiene concepts - and that sport was not even considered a pandemic driver.


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Photo: Dana Kesnerova / dpa

Sebastian Ploog sounds enthusiastic when he talks about his parkour club, about the "special community" he has built up in Hamburg.

At the beginning of eight hours a day - mostly alongside work - he and his partners worked entirely on a voluntary basis from 2013 until the opening of the sports facility to make their dream come true, he says on the phone.

With success: the association had up to 650 members in the meantime.

But Ploog is afraid that what has been created will collapse again.

The association lost almost 150 members as a result of the first shutdown in the spring, and income fell.

And now it starts again.

"We have to close the hall, there are no more offers, our employees have to work short-time," he says: "It's a great burden and the existence of the club is threatened."

The renewed shutdown also hits amateur and popular sports hard.

"It is a bitter decision and has lasting effects on our clubs," says Thomas Härtel from the Landessportbund Berlin to SPIEGEL, and his colleague Ralph Lehnert from Hamburg also speaks of a "difficult situation".

They want to do their part to contain the pandemic, says Härtel, but: "I don't understand that the situation has not been viewed in a differentiated manner."

"Sport is definitely not a hotspot"

Thomas Härtel from the Landessportbund Berlin

The sports clubs have developed extensive hygiene concepts in the past weeks and months and the members have adhered to them in a disciplined manner, says Lehnert.

Frank-Michael Rall, press spokesman for the State Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, umbrella organization for 126 member organizations with around 18,000 sports clubs, says: "Over the past few months, our clubs have tried to make the best of the situation with lots of creative solutions and great discipline. Then it is bitter when the sport is stopped anyway. "

It is unclear how great the effect of the measure will be.

Because amateur sport was not noticed as a pandemic driver - also because of the many hygiene concepts.

"The sport is certainly not a hotspot," says Härtel from Berlin.

His colleagues from Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia make a similar statement.

"Recently, a few cases were known in football at the regional or major league level, but it is really not recognizable that popular sport in particular would be a major virus spreader," says Rall.

The chairman of the Bundestag Sports Committee, Dagmar Freitag, sees it similarly: "Sports events that comply with strict hygiene concepts have not been noticed as super spreaders, either in professional or in popular sports."

There are no current figures on this.

In response to a request from SPIEGEL, the Berlin Senate Department for Health, Care and Equality said: "In Berlin, only eight percent of cases can be assigned to outbreaks. In around 90 percent of cases, the source of the infection cannot be clearly identified."

Cases in indoor sports, gyms, and locker rooms

The NRW Ministry of Health refers to an investigation from the beginning of October, which showed that four percent of the recorded cases that could be traced back can be summarized under the aspect of leisure time, which also includes clubs.

However, the infection environment was only known in 57 percent of the cases.

The Hamburg health authority announced: "We cannot say specifically how many cases can be traced back to mass sport, because we cannot evaluate infection environments according to this category."

But one knows that there have been cases in indoor sports, fitness studios and changing rooms.

He emphasizes that the shutdown is not intended to target mass sport, but that the number of occasions for encounters should be reduced overall.

The measures will present the clubs with economic challenges.

However, the state sports associations do not believe that too many clubs are actually threatened in their existence.

"We do not see any club dying. The number of members has remained largely stable after the first shutdown, but has fallen by up to ten percent for some clubs due to a lack of new entrants," says Lehnert from HSB.

"We are very worried, but as far as we know there are no clubs that are dramatically short of subsistence levels," added Härtel.

All federal states have funding pots

During the first shutdown, many clubs experienced that their members remained loyal - even if there are counterexamples like the Parkour club from Hamburg.

It was difficult for clubs that offer time-bound additional offers.

This income is of course now lost.

There are also fears that the members will show less loyalty to the club in the second shutdown - and still quit.

There are a number of funding pools available to the clubs.

In Hamburg there is the "Corona Emergency Aid Fund Sport", which still has around 2.5 million euros in tax money.

In Berlin, the LSB manages a rescue package worth six million euros itself, says Härtel, of which 1.2 million euros have been paid out so far.

"In due course we will hold talks with the Berlin Senate should the rescue package need to be increased."  

"Sport makes a significant contribution to cohesion, especially in crises"

In North Rhine-Westphalia a few months ago, the "emergency aid sport" with a volume of ten million euros was set up, of which a little more than a third is still available, says Rall.

In addition, there was an additional three million euros to fund exercise leaders.

In addition, another special fund of 15 million euros is planned for next week, especially for fourth division clubs that are affected by missing ticket revenues.

Härtel hopes that at least offers for children and young people will continue or that families will be able to use the sports facilities among themselves.

"The digital offer will become even more important. And we are counting on the fact that sports offerings through schools and daycare centers will continue to be possible."

Popular sport is not just about having fun, says Lehnert from Hamburg.

"It also has a social function, is important for health, social coexistence, for the development of young people," says the HSB CEO: "Sport makes a significant contribution to solidarity, especially in crises."

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-10-29

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