Source: Lukáš Filipec, HC Oceláři Třinec
COMMENT – Finally some noise. The hockey association turned to the chairman of the National Sports Agency, Filip Neusser, who asked him to cooperate in reconsidering the measures limiting the participation of spectators by a uniform limit, which is set for November 26, 2021 per 1,000 spectators. But why now?
The current restrictions, with a limit of 1,000 viewers, due to their vaccination or coronavirus inoculation, have actually been in place for about a month and a half. When the first restrictions came in the first coronavirus wave, the owners began to protest strongly that it was devastatingly ruining their clubs.
But now it has been relatively quiet in recent weeks. No big protest, the clubs complied with the government decree. This is despite the fact that they consider the current measures to be discriminatory and inconsistent.
But that’s no wonder. The O2 Arena for 17,000 spectators can accommodate practically the same number of people as the hall with a capacity of 1,000 people. Even after two years of pandemics and experience, these measures are not being implemented according to anything that has anything to do with logical thinking.
After a long silence, the owner of Pardubice hockey, Petr Dědek, came out with great criticism on Tuesday. “The department store, where two thousand people come, is not limited by anyone. Why does sport suffer and are limited? What is the reason for this? Why do politicians take him hostage?”He answered sharply the questions in an interview for iSport.
At the same time, he does not like the fact that Czech hockey, as an association, does little to change and modify these rules. “I call on the representatives of the union, specifically President King, to do something about the current situation. And if he wants to stick his head in the sand, he has three vice presidents, Bříza, Zábranský and Pavlík, let them work, ”The Old Man responded.
Mr. Old Man is right. In a whole month and a half, I did not notice a single major pressure from the union. And I have to say that I sit in hockey events practically from morning to evening. Someone complained here and there, but I personally perceived the whole situation with the feeling that it was waiting for it to come together again.
However, with the advent of the omicron variant, this scenario seems out of sight. Maybe that’s why the owner of Dynamo only called now. Plus points can be attributed to him in that he was the first. However, it also took him a month and a half. But that’s bullshit now.
The very next day, on Wednesday, January 12, Czech Hockey came out with an official statement: “Today, TELH director Josef Řezníček acquainted the representatives of the Ministry of Health with the proposals of Czech hockey and the opinions of clubs. called for an increase in the number of people needed to organize the matches and prepare a compensation program for the clubs.”
Don’t let the gentlemen get mad at me, but it seems to me that when Mr. Dědek dug up so as not to say, an article would be written on the official website that something was really going on and that it was. But the current restrictions apply, I repeat, from 26 November. Only a day after the strong criticism of the owner of Pardubice came a step from the union, which the fans waited in vain all the time.
Czech hockey has been facing great criticism for a long time. Whether it is the education of young people, the system of domestic competitions or the choice of the implementation team of the Czech national team, including the position of head coach. However, I believe that the union is countering these steps of criticism.
The spectators want hockey and intend to pay for it. When they no longer receive the required quality, they at least want to go for it. Moreover, when he sees on television every day that in the USA, hockey giant arenas are filling to full capacity without any apocalypse. And it just sucks.
Source: Czech hockey
