The second defeat of the BATE and a hit from the accordion player Isloch
While almost all national championships took a break due to the coronavirus pandemic, the championship of Belarus continues to delight fans around the world. In the absence of an alternative, the local Major League has become a real outlet for sports fans.
And the first round did not disappoint, giving several sensations and vivid matches at once. Rich in events turned out and the past weekend. The main event was the second consecutive defeat of the most titled teams of the country BATE and Minsk Dynamo. The Borisovites didn’t manage to yield to the modest “Slavia-Mozyr” - 1: 2. At the same time, the Russian striker Nikita Melnikov, who was hospitalized with suspected coronavirus in the middle of the month, was noted as a double in the hosts. Fortunately, the test of a football player gave a negative result.
And Dynamo in the capital's derby lost to Minsk. After the first half, the blue and white suffered a complete fiasco - 0: 3, and at the beginning of the second, in addition, they remained in the minority. But this did not stop the wards of Sergei Gurenko in the end to play two goals and reduce the gap to a minimum. The team stopped a step away from an impressive comeback.
But another Dynamo - Brest managed to win the first victory of the season. The current away champions beat Slutsk with a minimum score thanks to a goal by the main star of the tournament Artem Milevsky.
While the recognized favorites suffer defeat after defeat, Energetik-BSU, the former team of Moscow CSKA striker Ilya Shkurin, as well as Torpedo-BelAZ, Minsk and Isloch climbed to the top of the standings with six points.
The last team is already familiar to Russian fans thanks to the colorful accordion player. By the way, on the eve of the second round, he published an incendiary clip dedicated to the fight against coronavirus. In the video, not only the author with the button accordion is involved, but also his friends with the tambourine and balalaika Alexander Knauer and Vadim Esterman, as well as other fans of the team.
In the verses there are phrases such as “We are not afraid, wow, coronavirus. You won’t make us sit at home ”and“ Our wolves will tear you here. ” At the same time, the chorus is performed in English, apparently with the aim of attracting a foreign audience. The video was first shown during the break of the match “Isloch” - “Smolevichi” (1: 0) and may well become viral.
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Posted by Valery Kolontai (@ valerii.kolontai) Mar 28, 2020 at 7:05 PDT
Worldwide broadcasts and publications in leading media
Meanwhile, the championship of Belarus itself is gaining more and more popularity. Ukrainian Sport 1 was the first to display the tournament. Soon after, the Russian “Match TV” followed suit. Now the games of the Major League can be seen in Israel, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Balkan countries and even India. Thus, the potential audience of the championship is an incredible 1.67 billion people.
Cover the competition and leading foreign publications. So, last week, The New York Times, The Sun, The Daily Mail, La Repubblica and other media wrote about Belarusian football.
The growing popularity of Belarusian football has led local teams to have fans across the globe. For example, Slutsk now has a fan club in distant Australia. Fans were amused by the name of the collective from a small town of 60,000 (“slut” is translated from English as “woman of easy virtue”).
The Facebook community of FK Slutsk Worldwide has over a thousand members. Many of them watched the broadcast of the match with the Dynamo Brest and were actively rooting for the team. Moreover, the group is already urging to help the club, which is experiencing financial problems, and to start selling merchandise.
And some Belarusian teams themselves competently use the situation. So, “Krumkachi”, representing the country's second strongest division, broadcast a friendly match with “Smorgon” in English. As a result, she collected more than four thousand views on Youtube. The meeting was watched in England, Italy, Germany, Spain and other countries. Foreign fans were especially surprised that Smorgoni players had to play in shirt-fronts because their uniform was too similar to the opponent’s.
Falling attendance and fear of football players
While the popularity of the Premier League in the world is growing steadily, tournament attendance is declining. In the second round, only three matches gathered an audience of more than a thousand people. The record was set at the fight “Slavia-Mozyr” - BATE (2150). The average attendance of the first two rounds was only 1215 people, while last season it was 3002 in the same segment. That is, a 60 percent drop was recorded.
Even the Brest Dynamo, which last season gathered an average of 8,839 fans, affected the sad trend. But only 3648 spectators came to the starting game of the championship with Smolevichi.
Local football fans are afraid to visit the stadiums, despite antiviral measures by clubs and the local federation. For example, before games, fans measure the temperature and treat their hands with a special antiseptic. Also, visitors are advised to maintain a distance of “at least one seat”, but few do so.
By the fact that the championship of Belarus has not yet been stopped, far from all football players are happy, especially legionnaires. For example, the Brazilian defender of the Ruh, William, spoke directly about this.
“I would prefer that the championship of Belarus was suspended. I'm a little scared. During the match, I don’t worry about it, but after the final whistle, doubts arise: “Have I got infected today?” I’m a defender and I can’t help but touch opponents. This happens throughout the match. My mom, dad and wife call all the time and ask me not to leave the hotel at all. The agent said the championship might be stopped after this weekend ... My family and I are worried. A pause is the best solution for me and everyone’s health, ”quoted William UOL.
Dissatisfaction with the current situation was expressed by the forward of the Brest Dynamo Artem Milevsky, who played in Russia FC Tosno.
“The whole world is in quarantine, I fear, and the guys who play with us. We take some pills, tablets, put droppers. All this is very bad, everyone is waiting for it to end. It is strange that only we play. We have contracts and commitments to our president and the football league. Club doctors help, we have a good team. We get together, train, don’t look at anyone and do our job, ”Milevsky said on the air of the YouTube channel“ Trend ”.
But ABFF is not going to stop the championship. Last week, the executive committee of the federation was held, at which it was decided to continue the competition. Nevertheless, the situation may change at any time.