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The government will open up to 500 spectators in sports stadiums starting October 15.
C More hockey expert and profile Niklas Wikegård believes that is far from enough. Now he is demanding Amanda Lind’s resignation and also wondering what the president of the Ice Hockey Association, Anders Larsson, is really doing.
Linden should be packed. Leave your post. He hasn’t gotten off his chair in several months, hasn’t sat in any way in the everyday life of elite clubs, says Wikegård.
Soon, the entire Swedish football season was played in front of empty stands and the SHL started under the same conditions. As of October 15, as long as the contagion situation does not worsen, 500 spectators will be allowed to enter. This was announced by the Minister of the Interior, Mikael Damberg, and the Minister of Culture and Democracy, Amanda Lind, during the press conference on Tuesday.
It is true that a step in the right direction, but far from being enough, it is the general perception among elite clubs. The sports movement has always wanted to see an admission percentage based on the size of the arena.
Niklas Wikegård, 56, doesn’t think the message from 50 to 500 means anything positive:
– No no no. Being allowed at 500 spectators means zero for elite clubs. It is more expensive to open up to 500 people with guards, sales, etc. to keep closed. It is not necessary to go to 500 spectators. At the opera, if there’s only room for 700, I get it. But for our elite clubs it means nothing, so you can shit just as easily. I see it almost as a mockery of these 500. You have to look at what businesses they do. It is said that you should feel it, but there is no time to go on and work. Clubs have already dropped to the red level. If you really want to make a change, you can do it fast. It takes a maximum of two weeks to make a change in the law, if you really want to.
Photo: JIMMY WIXTRÖM
Niklas Wikegård.
Multiple SHL clubs can collapse
But isn’t it clear that these restrictions exist when there is a pandemic?
– I think it was completely fine from the beginning and I have all the respect for health to go first. But if the situation is so dire, no matter how strange the exceptions apply, for example to restaurants and shopping centers. There is absolutely no reason to set a maximum limit of 500 people for stadiums that can accommodate between 6,000 and 12,000 spectators. Of course, it must be a certain percentage, not an upper limit that applies regardless of size. Take Switzerland for example, where 60 percent of all seats are allowed. I think that Sweden, as a country during this pandemic, has been cruel to inform and then the citizens have had to take their own responsibility; in Sweden we are also good at taking care of ourselves. And if there’s one thing SHL clubs are good at, it’s organizing and organizing events.
How dire is the economic situation among our elite clubs?
– It’s extremely serious. I talk to many clubs and the message I get is that many are not even playing this season. Several associations have difficulties paying salaries. It is not about lowering wages, but about closing the business completely. No salary at all. Many clubs are portrayed as wealthy due to their high heritage value, but they are found on ice rinks, property, giant thrones, and more. Many clubs have no liquidity to speak of, because the money is filled through the public and sponsorship money. Several of our elite clubs will be forced to cancel payments in the 20/21 season.
Wikegård is careful to point out that he is talking about elite business, but that he is also about breadth.
– People should not think that for me it is about the 22 elite players of Färjestad, but that it has such serious consequences that they affect many: the youth and youth departments, the small district clubs, women’s and women’s hockey, the formation of leaders, value projects and integration. Everybody! The consequences will be devastating, believe it no more. Elite clubs mean a lot in their districts.
Do the elite clubs themselves bear any responsibility in this situation of financial pressure?
– Definitely. The SHL clubs and also the Hockeyallsvenskan clubs should have taken a much higher height than they have. There has been no plan A, B or C, which of course should have. Very few question that several clubs have recruited too much. In hindsight it must definitely be argued that the clubs should have behaved better, but now it’s about survival and they get absolutely no help from the governing bodies to generate revenue.
Photo: Amir Nabizadeh / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY
Amanda Lind.
Requires resignation of Amanda Lind
Back in early August, artist and author Jonas Gardell came out and demanded Amanda Lind’s resignation. Gardell was particularly furious at the lack of logic and explanations of why culture is treated differently from other phenomena in society, such as air travel, shopping malls, and restaurants.
Niklas Wikegård thinks that the sports movement for too long has acted too passively and quietly and sedentary accepted this lack of logic. Now he chooses to remove the sheet from his mouth and does not adapt the words.
– Amanda Lind. Or she and her ministry are afraid to make decisions and set guidelines. Or she is simply not interested in how the clubs are doing and does not understand anything about their activities. Does this person really have something to do with sports? It’s just that I don’t understand.
Don’t you think you are the right person for the job?
– Absolutely not, you can only pack. Leave your post. She hasn’t gotten off her chair in several months. She has not become familiar in any way with the everyday life of elite clubs, then she would not have acted this way. We need to bring in a sports minister who understands how sport works at the elite level and who pushes these issues all the time, a person who only cares about sports and health.
He directs harsh criticism of Anders Larsson
How do you interpret that Sweden does not have a Sports Minister but that Culture and Democracy Minister Amanda Lind is also “responsible for sports affairs”?
– You listen to yourself how it sounds. A person who has no interest in sports and is familiar with the conditions of elite sports will be responsible for the largest popular movement in Sweden. We can’t just stand there and rejoice when Tre Kronor wins World Cup gold or “Foppa” and Victor Hedman lifts the Stanley Cup dent, but then fails to fully support the sports movement. Everything sits together. If there is no roof, there is no width. She (Lind) doesn’t have the skills to tackle these issues and it’s embarrassing that she’s even named. We also hear the weak rhetoric of our Prime Minister speaking on these issues with some reluctance when hundreds of thousands are not allowed to go to sports and the clubs bleed. Leading the country means decisions have to be made even if your stomach doesn’t feel one hundred percent good all the time. Not only can you listen to an authority (FHM) that has even worse control over the conditions of elite sports than the government.
He directs harsh criticism of Lind and the government, have the authorities done enough in sport?
– Not even close. Who is really in charge of elite hockey? Who speaks for SHL and Hockeyallsvenskan? It can’t be just anyone when you only start with 500 people in a couple of weeks. Where is Anders Larsson somewhere? Where is the!? Where is Michael Marchall, where is Jenny Silfverstrand? The only one I’ve seen remove the blade from his mouth is the CEO of Färjestad (Stefan Larsson). He was furious at the inconsistency. He said it’s no longer about pay cuts, but about no pay. Stop! It’s over, he said, says Wikegård and continues:
– The problem is that nobody dares to run into them. Anders Larsson does not dare, because there is a political career that is at the top of the agenda. So it is important to lie down correctly, not turn around and make too much noise. For the first time, we have a full-time president who makes over SEK 100,000 per month and one of his most important tasks is to lobby those in power, but nothing happens. We have Björn Eriksson (RF President) in whom I have no confidence, who says this with 500 is a good start. What a good start. We’ve had too long a start now. The time has come to analyze how other countries, such as Switzerland, are performing.
✓ Amanda Lind responds to Wikegård.
✓ Björn Eriksson and Anders Larsson respond to Wikegård.
✓ Sportbladet has offered Michael Marchall to respond, but he has not returned.
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