DThis pandemic only ruled our lives for a few weeks when a retyped cartoon by the Peanuts pinpointed a major problem. It featured Charlie Brown, who was looking out over a lake with his dog Snoopy and said, “A virologist just said the greatest weapon against this virus is common sense.” Snoopy’s balloon read: “We are lost. Half of us are unarmed. “
The world is shutting down in many countries these days in the face of a mutating and apparently increasingly contagious virus. Lockdowns everywhere you look, stricter quarantine conditions when traveling, restricted radius of movement, closed schools and daycare centers, exit bans, the recommendation to work from home and to avoid unnecessary contact. Only professional sport seems to be excluded from all this: a hygiene concept – and everything seems possible and no longer a problem.
It may be obvious that a national professional sports operation can be maintained reasonably safely with the necessary care – but a World Cup with teams from 32 countries, right now? In Egypt, the meeting of the handball nations brings together people who are currently never allowed to meet under normal circumstances.
What could be more contrary to common sense? One thing: to organize the whole thing with spectators. Twenty percent of the spaces in the halls should be allowed to be occupied, according to the international handball association. At home the contact options are limited, there fans sit in the hall: Which picture does the sport want to send?
We will have to forgive each other a lot, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said at the beginning of the pandemic. Still one of the smartest sentences – and one that can also be applied to German handball. The criticism of DHB President Andreas Michelmann and goalkeeper Andreas Wolff of the rejection of some German players who are staying at home because of the current pandemic is completely out of place. Because one thing should make sense: the bigger the event, the more people the security concept must include – and the greater the risk.
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