Last night (Saturday), the Israeli government approved the facilitation of opening sports fields and halls to the public with a limit of up to 1,500 people. In basketball they take everything the state gives, but in football only tomorrow there will be a meeting of the director of the football leagues that will decide whether to approve the entry of an audience within the current limit.
In Israeli football, the government was expected to allow a larger number of fans to enter the stadiums. In the shadow of this uncertainty and the great criticism of the decision, Minister of Culture and Sports Hili Trooper responded to the allegations in an interview with ONE, called on the teams to return the fans to the stands and scolded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his meeting with Football Association chairman Oren Hasson.
Minister Trooper, how is it possible that the Prime Minister did not invite you to a meeting with the chairman of the Football Association yesterday? Did you feel that the Prime Minister was interfering with you in sports?
“I’m not excited about it. It smells more like a campaign, not like a real concern for sports. I’m sure the fans smell it. A few months ago Netanyahu also sat down with the cultural figures and made promises that did not materialize at all, and in the end we are the ones who brought the culture back. “We do sports. We work hard day and night for truth, and we do not make statements at press conferences.”
Did not you feel that the Prime Minister was interfering in your sport?
“Bottom line, he was not involved in the security network, not in permits for foreign groups to come to Israel or for Israeli groups to go abroad, and not in the struggle to return the fans. I’m not excited about it. “I work in sports every day, often several months in such and such statements.”
Yes, but at this meeting were the Minister of Internal Security, the Minister of Health, the Prime Minister. Everyone was except you. Where is the Minister of Sports?
“And where have they been all these guys all year? They didn’t talk about sports once in government meetings. In the end you see who works and who makes it a round.”
Let’s talk about the reliefs. In sports they come and say, with all due respect, to bring back only 1,500 people is not such a great achievement.
“I wanted more, I fought for more. But on the other hand let’s straighten the line and look reality in the eye. The usual restrictions for restaurants and cafes are 100 people inside and 100 outside. 200 total. Only 300 people can be accommodated at weddings. Right now, the place with the most people in the shadow of the restrictions is the sports facilities, with 1,000 fans inside the halls and 1,500 people outside. This is the most in the whole economy. So I think this is a first and significant step, I would not have canceled it so quickly. Yesterday I was at the Arena in Jerusalem, there were 300 people there, and some of them were literally in tears. I would not underestimate this. “
And yet, it does not seem serious to put only 1,500 people in a stadium of 30,000.
“I also think we need to grow next time. I’m careful about scattering promises in the air, but I want us to get to the playoffs with bigger numbers. Right now, 1,500 people is an achievement. True, that’s far from the numbers I wanted, but the Ministry of Health wanted to keep 300 people in and 500 We wanted 10 times, but we managed to reach an agreement, and I think we will be able to increase the amount further later and we will return. Right now, it is a safe and responsible thing to do this step. That the fans can be brought back to the pitches. “
You wanted more crowds on the pitches, to bring in a serious line. So why did you only go for 1,500 people in the end? How did you agree to that?
“The Ministry of Health wanted 300 and 500 people. I could say I was giving up, but in the end faced with the possibility I had – to stay with these symbolic numbers, and raise to 1,500, so I chose to progress to that number. Clear the noises around, it’s still the most in the economy. There are huge event gardens and no more than 300 people are approved for the event. There are 1,500 people who have been approved to enter the field, so what, we’ll leave them in the houses? “But people who care about the public and its health.”
Let’s get into the shoes of the footballers in the country for a moment. Suppose you are the owner of a football team with 15,000 subscribers, how will you decide who to put in the stands and who not? According to which key?
“First of all, there are a lot of question teams not their numbers. There are some that do not bring in more than 1,500 spectators every week. So I would not cancel it. It’s in all leagues, also in football and basketball, not just the big teams. So there are teams for it. Yes, a positive line. It is clear to me that it is a challenge for the big teams, but it can be met. I do not underestimate, I understand the complexity, but give permission to 1,500 fans to enter, open the gates and move on. Why leave a stadium closed? Take Hapoel Jerusalem for example. “They did a raffle and put people in. So I turn to teams, bring 1,500 people to the games, keep the guidelines, send the pictures to the Ministry of Health so they can bring in more fans, and we will continue to progress.”
It is not easy for teams and there may be pressure on the goals from other fans who want to enter. Their ability to resist and disagree with it. Have the Ministry of Health ever been to a football game? Do they know how it actually works?
“It’s not true because there are people there who love football. Hezi Levy and Nachman Ash are sports fans and love sports. I can be populist and say they are bad people, but they have a lot of worries about opening the economy and you can understand that too. The Corona is still here. For them the main concern is Not what will happen inside the stadium but what will happen outside, in queues, in the entrances. I do not want there to be pressure. I think the teams need to experience 1,500 people, because a lot for them is also something new. Entering the pitches now is a different story, it is slower, people will have to “Come earlier, keep your distance and also go through another test to see that they have been vaccinated. They need to rub on 1,500 and if it works well and there are fewer patients, I believe we will increase the numbers. You can whine and you can work. I am in favor of working.”
Fans are tired already, some want to start protesting. For a whole year the sports fans were not at the games. Can you understand them?
“I can totally understand them. Before I became Minister of Sports I was a sports fan, I have a 25-year subscription to Hapoel Jerusalem. I missed it too. Yesterday when I was at the Arena in Jerusalem, I actually came back after a year less than two days since the last game. I connect with the fans’ longing. .
Did you see what Eran Zehavi said?
“I saw what he said. I respect him, the pain of the athletes is the same pain, but how many countries in Europe have opened the stands? I said to the Ministry of Health – people here have been vaccinated, let’s let them come back to life. Unfortunately they did not accept my position. “It’s hard, but even 1,500 people is great. The players’ hearts will move when they see them, it’s a crazy excitement, a different experience for the players after almost a year with silence on an empty field. Hundreds of fans are also great in the current situation.”
Recently, there have been threats against the groups that will take the safety net from them if they do not bring in an audience. What do you have to say about it?
“I tell them, bring back the crowd and do not worry. We will fund all the increases in policing and ushers for every group that brings back the crowd. We put NIS 50 million aside just to get a crowd back. The safety net can be no excuse for not returning a crowd. Full payment, as we promised eight months ago. We have already thought about this situation. For the first month we will not take them off the safety net and then we will take them down proportionally according to the amount of audience that comes back. If the group has 10,000 subscribers and will return 1,500? “They will get the same amount on the 10,000 and then it will drop to 8,500 accordingly. We will not completely lower the safety net, everything will be relatively and they can be calm.”
And if they decide not to bring back the audience?
“So I offset it for them anyway. They have fans waiting a year out, I think it’s time for them to start bringing them back. We cared for them, we kept the teams head over water for over a year and it’s time to bring back the crowd. There are many areas in the economy that have collapsed, but no “One football or basketball team that collapsed in this crisis. They can return 1,000 and 1,500 respectively and I also suggest not underestimating it. Anyway, whatever it is, I offset them against the number they can put in starting next month.”
When will the next beat be for the crowd and how many fans will come in?
“No one really knows. Every two weeks we have to update regulations. We can decide that it remains the same, but anything can happen. For me, we will strive for the amount to increase. Of course it also depends on the disease. In an outbreak they will speak differently, and vice versa. We in the Ministry of Sports are hungry “To bring back an audience, in the hope that it will climb to the top with every beat. That more fans will return.”
Why is there a sense that there is no neat way to the outline of returning to the pitches? Why not advertise in advance what is going to happen? The fans have been vaccinated, they want to get in, see that there have been no significant infections lately, the games on the football fields are in the open air in the stadiums. What is the problem with letting those who have been vaccinated enter with masks and social distance?
“There is a general problem here in the country, that a lot of things happen in such a way that they are determined only at the last minute. The government makes a decision according to the morbidity indices, the Ministry of Health wants to examine everything a few days before the pulse comes, examine how many patients go down according to progress. “At the moment, the data may be less relevant. We think it is right to bring back more fans later, there are Israel national team games at the end of this month and I think the effect of the vaccines is significant and I hope we will move forward with it.”
Bottom line, when do you think it will be possible to get more fans in?
“I’m busy not with the headlines but with the deeds. I believe the number of fans in the stands will climb further in the next beat, if there is no further outbreak of the plague.”
Fans’ expectations rose, people went to get vaccinated, the government said anyone with a green passport would be able to get into cultural and sports shows soon – and there are still limits. You do not think you have disappointed the public a bit in your decisions?
“I’m not happy that there are only 1,500 people in the regulations, I want more. But it still does not mean that it is not worth getting vaccinated. It is worth getting vaccinated to keep everyone healthy. It was right to put in more, incentivize those who were vaccinated, but in the end I do not state things. The goddess alone. “
If we look back, only in Israel did they strike football several times compared to what happened in Europe. Other countries have realized that it is an important commodity on difficult days when people are sitting at home. What do you have to say about the attitude towards sports and culture in Israel in the days of the plague?
“It’s too early to conclude, because we still work here every day and fight for sports and culture. The sport, like all other fields, is relatively damaged, without beautifying the situation and without eliminating the pain – but it is a field that is relatively less affected than other sectors. The facilities came out this year even without a state budget and have an allocation of NIS 450 million, we added a safety net for groups with a proper compensation mechanism, we upgraded the Wingate Institute by NIS 150 million to continue building facilities here for the future. We invested in infrastructure this year to see improvement in years The sport is alive and breathing, despite the corona.I have adult classes in enclosed enclosures that still need to be opened, we are constantly pushing so we can release more and make it easier for the public.At the same time, only today 7th-10th graders have returned, there are branches in the economy that are still limited. So in these difficult conditions, we did everything possible to save these industries. “