A.Veryga’s restrictions annoyed the biggest clubs in the country: both “Žalgirius” and “Rytas”

423, 442, 474, 605 and 766 such progressions are increasing the number of people infected with coronavirus in Lithuania during the last five days, when two records were set in basketball competitions.

Last Thursday at the Kaunas “Žalgiris” stadium, the match with “Valencia” was the one that most fans saw in the Euroleague this season: 5131 spectators.

Last Sunday, 4,376 spectators flocked to see Vilnius Rytas and Žalgiris’ matches live at the Siemens Arena, for the first time in this LKL championship.

But the attendance records in the context of an increasingly dark pandemic do not please part of the public and the Minister of Health, Aurelius Veryga, who is responsible for it.

On Monday morning, he hinted that not all sporting events provide security, and on the afternoon of the same day, the minister announced that a proposal would be made to the government on Wednesday to hold games without spectators.

“A decision on resolution 152, that is, on changing the emergency situation, will be provided to the government.

This would ban all indoor and outdoor events and gatherings, with the exception of high-profile sports competitions, which take place without spectators.

This means that in arenas where matches with spectators used to take place, they should now take place without spectators, said A. Veryga. “These proposals will be presented on Wednesday and, if accepted, will go into effect on Friday.”

It is strange for Kaunas “Žalgiris”, but will follow the instructions

At present, there is still a restriction since the summer to guarantee a free place every second in the stands in sports competitions.

This means 15 thousand. In theory, up to 7,000 people could gather at the Žalgiris stadium, which houses the fans. viewers. The sports clubs themselves do not set limits, they only try to comply with all the requirements of the National Center for Public Health. But that is very little.

“We appreciate that we handle situations in the ‘Žalgiris” arena. We followed all the safety instructions provided. If a spectator sometimes forgot to wear the mask correctly, they were immediately reminded. After the first Euroleague match, it was commented There were a series of spectator temperature checks before the game, there were more thermal imaging cameras in the second game, and flow management was completely seamless.

We have responded to all comments, so it now seems strange that viewers cannot attend sporting events and can attend cultural events, albeit with greater restrictions.

Still, we have to keep the instructions and we will follow them, “said Almantas Kiveris, a spokesman for Žalgiris.

The national champions have 9.7 million planned for this season. It was planned to raise 2.6 million euros for tickets. as long as half the arena can be filled in a Euroleague match.

Now Žalgiris will have to recalculate the budget or find new ways to make up for losses.

“It just came to our attention then. We will look at other ways to collect a budget. This is not a completely unexpected scenario. We do not expect it, but now we will try to collect it in other ways,” said A. Kiveris.

In the Euroleague, in addition to “Žalgiris”, only Russian clubs – CSKA Moscow (3.5 thousand 3 thousand) and “Zenit” from Saint Petersburg (2.7 thousand) crossed the threshold of a thousand spectators in the first five rounds.

In addition, two other Spanish clubs, Valencia and Baskonia, admitted fans, but up to 400 and 600 respectively.

In Germany, Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Israel, Italy, as well as in Barcelona and Madrid, the games took place without spectators, and in France, where Kaunas “Žalgiris” will play on Thursday, no home games have been played due to cases of COVID-19 in Vilerbana ASVEL.

“Žalgiris” collected more than 5,000 in the two Euroleague matches with Anadolu Efes and Valencia. fans and felt in control of the situation in the arena.

But now Kaunas is coming to terms with the idea that next week during the game with Real Madrid and subsequent games he will have to play without spectators.

Rytas prepares for the last match with the spectators

Vilnius “Rytas” is also interested in ticket sales, although the capital club’s budget is much less dependent on ticket sales than “Žalgiris” for several reasons.

Rytas’ total planned budget for this season is 3.2 million. It was intended to charge 350 thousand euros for tickets. euros.

The Vilnius team is not the manager of their large stadium, only three FIBA ​​Champions League group matches have been planned at the Siemens Stadium, but only one of them will likely take place with the spectators.

On Tuesday, in the first match of the tournament, “Rytas” will host Athens “Peristeri” and this may be the last match in Lithuania with spectators this year. It is true that there will be no more fans than on Sunday during the LKL favorites showdown.

“Based on ticket sales, you can see that there will be at least twice as many fans in the Champions League as in the game with Žalgiris,” said Justas Jankauskas, Ryto’s director.

On Monday, he still expected the restrictions to take place “within the limits of the mind.”

J.Jankauskas recalled that in the smallest 2.5 thousand. The seats in the Jeep Arena would make the number of fans much smaller and easier to control.

During the last match with Žalgiris, the individual fans without masks could be seen at the Siemens Arena in the capital.

These were some of the “B positions” that created effective support, where social distance was not in the first place.

“He was not calm, he was not happy with those images, but we did our best to observe social distance and wear masks,” said J. Jankauskas. – Security and our volunteers monitored the situation, sometimes we ask more than once, but we don’t always see. We tried, but in the Siemens arena it’s a little harder to control than in the Jeep room. “

Golden match: already in an empty stadium

The decision to stop the spectators will change the atmosphere in the last matches of the Lithuanian Football League A.

Football clubs do not earn or earn very little from ticket sales, there are not many fans to come. But Saturday’s match at the Vilnius LFF Stadium between locals “Žalgiris” and Marijampolė “Sūduva” will be special.

One round before the end of the A League championship, Marijampolė’s “Sūduva” is one point ahead of Vilnius’s “Žalgiris”, who expected to feel support from the spectators in the match due to the gold.

Several hundred tickets have been sold and will probably be refunded, but that’s not the most important thing.

“The players will be very upset. They had come today and asked for something to be done. I replied that it was not in my will – said Vilma Venslovaitienė, the director of Vilnius Žalgiris.” For the players, the environment matters a lot, it is not even a money question. “

V. Venslovaitienė recalled that after the first wave of the pandemic, 200 spectators were allowed to leave the quarantine, then 500 spectators.

“Why not do it now? Maybe those 200 or 500 won’t even get together because it’s already cold. But a total ban wouldn’t solve anything.

I understand my concern for people’s health, but we forgot about people’s mental well-being, said the director of the Vilnius club. – Inside, the risk is higher, but in our case, in the stadium, where 200-300 people come, and we sit 7 thousand. area, and with grandstands in an even larger area, it is not worth making such restrictions.

Seated 500 spectators 5 thousand. places in the stadium are almost impossible to infect. Banning is the simplest and safest way, but you should also think about people: the quarantine has already exhausted everyone, the relaxation of people is due to psychological fatigue. It would be worth looking at it in more depth.

I understand that the number of infections is alarming, they are not positive. But we have to learn to live in an environment with the virus as the world has changed. We can’t just hide, we have to think about how to live with it and not apply the same rules everywhere. It would make sense to be more flexible. “