The weekend is approaching – and the future of the professional leagues in football and basketball is still under heavy fog. The league administrations are preparing for feverish discussions with representatives of the Ministry of Health, with the aim of obtaining permission to return to the pitches. “There is a real war here,” a source in the football administration admitted.
Meanwhile, the heads of the two branches, Erez Kalfon of football and Shmuel Frenkel of basketball, wrote a joint and sharp letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to abide by the agreement and ensure that Israeli sports return to full activity this coming weekend. The contents of the full letter are in front of you:
“Two weeks ago, the Israeli government decided to close the professional football and basketball leagues. Although this created significant sporting, economic and physiological difficulties, we worked to adapt the competitions to almost impossible schedules in light of our commitments to international sports frameworks and want to end competitions on particularly tight schedules.
We acted in this way in light of the commitment of the heads of the Ministry of Health, according to which already this weekend it will be possible to return to full activity in the professional leagues, even if the general closure is extended. To our amazement, we learned that despite the agreement we reached with the heads of the Ministry of Health, there is an intention to prevent the return of the professional leagues to activity.
It should be emphasized: Israel is the only country in Oum that has stopped the activities of the football and basketball leagues this season due to the corona virus despite the fact that all athletes have been in complete home isolation for many months, and are under close medical supervision by team doctors.
Even today in many countries around the world there are prolonged and strict closures with millions of dead and mutated mutations in the background, but no head of state has stopped the activities of football or professional basketball – while in Israel, it has been stopped twice. Sports in Israel have known how to overcome difficult obstacles over the years – we completed the competitions under wars, when missiles and Qassams landed and during the difficult terrorist attacks, but today – in a precedent-setting and historic way – this has been avoided.
In this state of affairs, the end of the 2020/21 season – both in football and basketball – is highly questionable. The implications are clear: unprecedented damage at the international level when the State of Israel is removed from international activity, severe damage to groups participating in these competitions, disappointment to millions of fans and damage to the status and image of Israel worldwide – it will take many years to repair these damages!
We are confident that it will not harm sports in Israel, millions of fans and our status in the world and will ensure compliance with the summaries. “
As you may recall, when Israeli football and basketball were shut down once again following the closure in the country, it was assumed that they would return two weeks later – even if the closure continued. Now, as mentioned, the comeback is in big question. “Nothing is closed, and so far no one has promised us that we will return this weekend. We are fighting to make it possible,” the same source added in the administration.
The same source even painted a very worrying picture in case the shutdown remains the same: “Right now it is about extending the closure by ten days. If they do not exclude football, it is a sporting catastrophe that will require shortening the league or stopping activities and closing the league.”
Meanwhile, the organization in charge of the two senior leagues is angry with my brother Nazareth, who grossly violated the guidelines with a training match against Bnei Reina. “What my brother Nazareth did is a very serious injury, which could have led to the end of the National League,” the source said. As you may recall, my brother Nazareth was fined NIS 20,000 by the principal and another NIS 20,000 on probation.
The Office of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Hili Trooper, announced the return of the leagues: “Senior members of the Ministry of Sports, including the Minister and his staff, are making feverish efforts and are in constant contact with various elements in the Ministry of Health and the government in order to return the leagues to activity this coming weekend. We are convinced that the leagues should return and act as much as we can in this matter. We are in continuous contact and are working in coordination with the league administrations demanding that the games be returned. “