Belarusian football wins fans abroad as locals boycott matches
As Belarus resists imposing a lockdown to combat the coronavirus, its football league has stumbled in to the international limelight as Europe’s only remaining top-flight competition.
But players come to mind about the health risks and only diehard fans are braving matches.
FC Slutsk fan Yahor Khavanski, 26, is “a bit afraid” but could not imagine quitting his weekend football fix.
On Sunday he intends to don a surgical mask and an FC Slutsk scarf and “do not touch anything” at a clash against rivals Belshina Bobruisk.
“The stadium holds 2,000 people, but only 300 found the last match. You can sit anywhere you want and keep your distance,” he told AFP by phone.
Khavanski says he will keep attending matches, regardless of the risk. In his view, he faces “the same odds of being infected on public transport or in shops”.
Life has continued as normal in Belarus, whose authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed World Health Organisation suggestions to impose a virus lockdown.
With a population of nearly 10 million, Belarus has registered 9,590 coronavirus cases. Neighbouring Ukraine, with four times the populace, has registered fewer cases.
The Belarusian Football Federation (BFF) has followed the government’s lead, saying you won't stop matches beneath the current guidelines.
The BFF even announced this week its women’s league will start on April 30 carrying out a two-week delay over fears players had touch people infected with the virus.
- International exhibition -
On paper, your choice to allow matches is an enormous boon to a struggling league.
Russia’s major sports network bought the rights to air matches in March, a move accompanied by 11 other countries including India and Israel.
Clubs have started Twitter accounts in English to focus on the new influx of international spectators.
Fans and management at FC Slutsk wonder if the new interest could save the club.
FC Slutsk’s main sponsor is an area, state-run sugar company.
“However the sugar industry is in decline,” club president Vitaly Bunas told AFP.
With the factory director in prison over a corruption conviction, Bunas says “the club’s finances are catastrophic”.
Yet fans in Australia have crowd-funded practically $4000 and launched a Facebook group for FC Slutsk’s new followers abroad, an initiative Bunas said was “surprising but welcome”.
- Fan revolt -
The boost of attracting new fans abroad has come against the backdrop of dwindling spectators, with a complete of just 2,383 fans across the eight league matches last weekend.
Dinamo Minsk’s match against Neman Grodno, held in the country’s most significant stadium last weekend, was played in front of only 317 people.
Towards the end of March, fans in Grodno criticised the state response to the pandemic and virus “lies”, contacting the BFF to “finally have the courage to avoid the championship”.
Fans groups at all of the league’s top clubs have announced they will not attend matches.
Several players, mainly foreign based, have weighed in, saying the league ought to be suspended.
“It’s just a little scary,” said Dinamo Brest striker Artem Milevsky on Instagram last week after a match in Vitebsk, the town which has the next highest number of infections in Belarus.
Dinamo Minsk midfielder, Danilo, told Brazilian media: “If the major championships have stopped, why haven’t we? We have to do the same.”
But with the league gaining more attention than ever before, other players see this as their moment.
French-Armenian footballer Hayk Mosakhanian said it was a “plus” the league was continuing, welcoming publicity “if we play well”.
The Energetik-BGU midfielder added that young players “want showing off”.
For up and coming stars, he said, the pandemic has offered an opportunity to stand out. “It’s a chance,” he told AFP.
