Pure public viewing is prohibited

In Corona times, public viewing is not just public viewing.

The catering industry is allowed to set up televisions to broadcast the EM in front of a larger audience.

Own events in front of a large screen are, however, prohibited.

Erding - Officially, there is only talk of "gastronomy with TV broadcast".

Claudia Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer, spokeswoman for the district administration, confirmed this legal regulation at the request of our newspaper on the day before the game between Germany and the reigning world champions France on Tuesday (start: 9 p.m.).

One of the losers of this rule is the Erding ice hockey association.

Chairman Chris Fragner and his aides had everything planned, now they were called off at the last minute.

The association wanted to build a large ice hockey beer garden in the parking lot behind the Erdinger ice rink for the games of the German national team.

The should open two hours before the start of the game.

Food, drink and a supporting program in the form of ice hockey talks would have been provided, and the Germany games of the European Championship should have been shown on a large screen.

So much for the plan - everything was probably approved.

“The hygiene concept was in place,” reports assessor David Whitney.

The visitors would have had to register online in advance, masking would have been required, and the number of visitors would have been limited to 500 seats.

Then on Monday morning the announcement came that the state government is banning these temporary beer gardens.

"It's a shame" thinks Whitney.

Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer explains the legal paradox: “The public viewing must focus on the gastronomic character.” That means: The audience comes to eat and drink - and meanwhile enjoy the EM.

"It is crucial that every guest has his or her fixed seat, which he can only leave with a mask, and that his / her name is recorded."

According to her, pure public viewings fall under events - "and they are not allowed according to the current infection control measures ordinance".

There could be new rules in the first week of July at the earliest.

The European Championship final is on July 11th.

Incidentally, it was precisely this regulation that brought down the Erdingen Old Town Festival.

According to the spokeswoman, joint EM viewing at home is also allowed - not including a maximum of ten people from as many households, vaccinated, tested and genesis as well as children under 14 years of age.

The EM, which was caught up due to the pandemic, has not yet triggered storms of enthusiasm.

“It's going very well, but the big hype has not yet materialized,” explains Mario Pianka, leaseholder of the Erdinger Weißbräu brewery inn.

“That still has to develop.” In Pianka's opinion, how great the euphoria will be depends above all on how Jogi Löw's team is doing.

His host colleague David Ritter from the summer garden in Erding says humorously: "People come because of the beer garden, not because of the football."

ham / wk