Plan to submit to Health Ministry to approve entry of more than 5,000 fans at the four major stadiums • Fears of claims • And Erez Speaker's warning: "The restrictions will continue if the league is to be played without an audience" • The snapshot after the decision to postpone playoff games

• Hapoel Tel Aviv fans in a match against Raanana

  Photo:

  Encourage Carney

• It is not so pleasant to see a closed stadium

  Photo:

  Encourage Carney

• Sammy Ofer this week, shortly before the FA Cup game between Haifa and Rejected

  Photo:

  Maor Alexasci

1. Members of the Football League Board of Directors took four and a half hours yesterday to reach a final decision to postpone the top playoff games this week, following the Health Ministry's banning events with more than 5,000 people due to the Corona virus. The problems and fears of the move were many, and there are also more question marks this morning.

The team leaders had some concerns that came up in the debate. First, as police officials explained, violating public order outside the stadiums in the event that only 5,000 viewers would be allowed to attend games of groups holding double and triple subscriptions. The worry is that in practice, a larger number of fans will come and try to break into the stadium.

Another concern came about claims by the Toto and the broadcast franchisees, which could complain of damages as a result of the games' rejection, but the main concern was from a class action by nominated fans who would not be allowed to enter the games.

Sammy Ofer is empty. Trying to find solutions for subscribers // Photo: Alan Shaver

Maccabi Tel Aviv Vice President Sharon Tamam pushed aside the concerns during the discussion, saying to those in attendance: "What will they sue us for, that we reject a game? Is there a judge who will say that a week's time to get organized is unlikely? I have 22,000 subscribers and I don't see how I can play Saturday with an audience. "

Jerusalem Betar chairman Eli Ohana reinforced Tamam's remarks by telling members of the board: "No one will ignore the situation. What do we say, is Corona and it doesn't interest us? The Maccabi Haifa Cup game was canceled and I did not see the football collapse. What will happen? Even a court cannot ignore the situation, so what are we afraid of? It's a rejection week, not a month. "

2. In the coming days, the administration, together with the top playoff teams, will formulate a plan to be submitted to the Ministry of Health, which will allow a large number of fans to sit at various points in the stadium, and the goal of Betar Jerusalem, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa is to get 20 A thousand viewers. Just not sure that this is the best solution for groups.

"There is no way that Turner, for example, will approve 12,000 viewers. At best, 8,000 will approve," a senior Premier League official added: "In Bloomfield there is no situation that will approve 20,000." In this situation, the biggest problem is Maccabi Tel Aviv, which has 19,000 subscribers and about 3,000 new playoff subscribers.

Fans with masks. The sights that will soon be seen in the fields // Photo: Oded Karni

The Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, Professor Itamar Grotto, said: "We will discuss and provide specific solutions for the four top play-off stadiums - Sami Ofer, Turner, Bloomfield and Teddy - and we will each have to give their solution according to each group. I don't know how much we will approve, but the big direction is to profit the people and create separations. "

3. The administration is also preparing for an escalation option. "The Ministry of Health will continue the restrictions and only reduce them," the chairman of the administration, Erez Calfon, warned the representatives of the groups, who decided that if the restrictions were tightened, the league would also be played without an audience.

He told the media: "If there is an escalation in the Corona, we will act accordingly. If there is a directive to reduce the crowd or play without a crowd, the league will continue to be worn without a crowd. The administration will assist the teams so that as early as next week it will be possible to keep as much sport as possible."

In the same breath, the administration also knows that there can be an improvement in the situation. "Maybe the situation will clear up next week," concluded one of Hapoel Tel Aviv's owners, Ze'ev Greenberg, "but football is impossible to play without a crowd."