In just under two weeks it will be decided whether the Starnberg Argonauts footballers can start a regular season this year.
In view of the corona situation, however, there is again a threat of a shortened season without promotions and relegations.
Starnberg
- There are still just under two weeks until the deadline on May 15. Then it will be decided whether and how the American Football Association Bavaria will start playing this year. If the contact restrictions imposed by the lockdown end by this date, the Starnberg Argonauts can also plan the coming season. "If we are allowed to do full-contact training again, we can start again in six to eight weeks," says Ludwig Kastenmeier. He is optimistic that a full round will then be possible for the Bayern division.
However, if politics thwarted the Starnberg department head's bill, a situation like last year threatens again. Although there are plans to go through a shortened season if that is possible in the near future, the project will then no longer have any sporting significance. “There would be no newcomer or relegator,” explains Kastenmeier. Friendlies or tournaments will certainly be allowed at some point as the vaccination of the population progresses, but regular games will be suspended again. "Everyone has to see how they handle it," says Kastenmeier.
He himself would have no objection if his team could still play one or the other game in the stadium on Riedener Weg. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the division. As a reminder of the Argos' first game on October 4, 1981 against the Munich Cowboys, Kastenmeier would like to play an anniversary game at the end of September or beginning of October. The Argos have been preparing for this highlight for several weeks. But strong men can no longer be kept happy with online training alone. That still worked last year, when the appeal of the new took over the warriors. And another problem is looming: Are the players still ready for rock-hard team training after weeks of idleness?
Today Kastenmeier cannot say whether his squad, which counts 35 players on paper, actually still gives this number. "That will only find out when we are back on the field," says the head of the Starnberg football team. But he also expects that one or the other player will disappear because he has oriented himself differently, professionally or privately, since last year. On the other hand, the Argos also had one or two newcomers. To the competition from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, which was awarded competitive sport status by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and are therefore allowed to organize their season as normal, the Argonauts only lost one young person who wants to try his luck in Fürstenfeldbruck.
As soon as training is allowed in the leagues again, Kastenmeier would like to start preparing. He advises a sensible approach: “Nothing works for less than six weeks.” Unlike the sports medicine specialists at the Bavarian Football Association, who consider three weeks of preparation to be completely sufficient, he sees too great a risk for his players after the long break in play . He feels confirmed by the statistics from the National Football League (NFL), which recorded an exorbitantly high number of injuries for the past season because the clubs started the season too quickly. "The longer the break, the more dangerous it becomes for every club," warns Kastenmeier. It will probably be some time before the first kick-off.
