NFF MANAGER: Alf Hansen is director of development and activity in the Norwegian Football Association. Photo: Heiko Junge, NTB scanpix
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The Ministry of Health will not meet the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) before 10 August to discuss a reopening of grassroots football.
On July 8, the NFF sent a letter requesting to enter into dialogue earlier than a scheduled meeting on August 10. VG has received the answer from Kristin Skullerud, who is a senior adviser in the department of municipal health and care services at the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
«Reference is made to a letter from the Norwegian Football Association from 08.07.20 with a request for an early meeting regarding the opening of grassroots sports in general and a desire to speed up the planned meeting with the Ministry of Culture on 10 August. From the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s side, we want to maintain the meeting as planned and there is no need for us to set up a new meeting before this date. ” it is stated in the letter.
Aftenposten was first out with the coverage of the news.
– Not interested in listening
Alf Hansen is director of development and activity in the Norwegian Football Association. The NFF leader says he is disappointed.
– We just have to take note that they are not interested in speeding up that date. This means that they are not interested in listening to us and relaxing the one-meter rule earlier than planned. For us, it is demanding considering that we have come across a critical point that the entire season for the seniors will be gone, says Alf Hansen to VG.
– Have you received a justification for the refusal from the Ministry of Health?
– No. We do not have that. We are disappointed that they will not move the meeting. What we understand is that this is the one-meter rule. It applies to the whole of society, and that is what they stand for categorically. We have understood that for a long time. At the same time, we have been aware that they must soften some of the strictest bans at some point. We had hoped that they could make an exception for that in football.
“Absolutely crucial”
– There have been some, as Per A. Flod, who has said that football should conform to the health authorities – like others in society. Do you understand that type of argument?
– We relate to what the Ministry of Health says. We have no problem understanding that they have had to set strict requirements for the whole society, but we have had a very positive infection development in Norway. We have also had this in a number of other countries that we can compare ourselves with, such as Denmark. There, they have had grassroots football going for a long time, and had a positive infection development. We are the last country in the Nordic region to open up to grassroots football. There is a lot of experience from other comparable nations that says that there will be no increased infection pressure from opening up to grassroots sports. That is why we had hoped that they would go in and reconsider the date of the meeting. At the same time, we have respect for the fact that it is a demanding job, says NFF leader Hansen.
He describes what will happen in the days after the meeting on August 10 as “absolutely decisive” for whether there will be something similar to a football season in wide football in 2020.
In an e-mail to VG, Espen Nakstad, assistant director of the Norwegian Directorate of Health, writes the following:
“The Norwegian Directorate of Health is continuously working on a number of covid-19 cases. The further opening of wide football is one of the cases that is in process. We will convene a meeting of the NFF in the first half of August, as previously announced. “
