• Report.We are made to run

"As a father of a family, I am concerned about the evolution of the pandemic and I do not intend to leave my wife and children alone for more than a month at this time," proclaimed pivot

Hendrik Pekeler

, best player in the last Final Four of the Champions League. handball and, with it, three other important players in Germany, full-

backs Steffen Weinhold

and

Finn Lemke

and also pivot

Patrick Wiencek

, resigned from the Egypt World Cup that begins this Wednesday for a single reason: the coronavirus.

In spite of the virus, competitions such as the League, the Champions League, the NBA or the Euroleague have managed to survive with precautions and many PCRs tests, but in recent days several cases have shown that it is impossible to avoid surprises.

Because athletes, despite their privileges, are human and it is impossible to confine them and force them to play.

And because the rules they must follow and the penalties they can receive are vague or even non-existent.

In the case of German handball players, for example, the Federation of their country (DHB) has decided to simply accept their resignation and appear at the World Cup in Egypt with a team full of young people and low expectations.

After all, last November four of their players - including Finn Lemke - came back infected with inconsequential matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia and the squad has already rebelled due to the lack of anti-covid measures.

But ... could the DHB have forced Pekeler, Lemke and company to play? "In many countries there are legal mechanisms to do so, yes, but they are difficult to apply. In Spain, for example, the presence in the national teams is an obligation contained in the Sports Law and its breach can lead to a disqualification and a financial sanction, but no coach will want to call a player reluctantly ", explains the lawyer

Borja Osés

, expert in sports law and advisor to the Basque Anti-Doping Agency, while his colleague

Jose Domingo Monforte

, also a specialist in sports law, adds: "Moreover, if a Federation wants to litigate with a player for a resignation, it will get into a legal hornet's nest. No one can guarantee that there will be no risk of contagion at the Handball World Cup, so the players German women have the right to refuse. Spanish labor regulations, for example, establish that the established protocols can be played with, but I consider that health always prevails, the principle in dubio pro salute ".

The Sporting case

"In any case, in many issues like this, related to the coronavirus, there is no jurisprudence and we can only speculate," acknowledges José Domingo Monforte and as an example, another recent case.

On December 21, several Sporting players met at the home of one of them and the party ended in an outbreak: nine infected footballers and, with them, dozens of relatives and friends.

Beyond the health consequences, irresponsibility caused the team to stay halfway around Christmas and so on.

The club has not commented on the matter and, although there has been speculation about possible internal sanctions, these are highly unlikely.

Why?

Because when footballers were put into the anti-covid bubble, nobody thought they wanted to get out of it. The same thing happened with the party of four Sevilla players in the middle of May or with the Fuenlabrada case, even more thorny because of the trip by plane of the group -contaginated included- to La Coruña. "There is no regulation that allows players to be punished directly in this type of case. The only way to do it is for the clubs to have the players sign an anti-regulation regulation. -covid with their respective fines, but, as far as I know, most have remained in purely informative liability documents. It may happen that now the coach decides to temporarily remove them from the competition, but that is already far from the legal scope, "he analyzes José Domingo Monforte, with his own law firm in Valencia.

Again, the lawyer Borja Osés agrees with him: "The clubs may have specific regulations similar to those that are signed so that footballers do not ride motorcycles or do not practice extreme sports. In that case, they could sanction it. But if they do not do so. they have done can only appeal to self-responsibility and, in this case, wait for the players to be discharged and can play. "

The vaccine, mandatory?

Thus, if athletes do not want to play or they get infected, that is, if they break the bubble, federations and clubs have a hard time punishing them, but they can do something that ends the problem created by the coronavirus once and for all: vaccinate them. With two vaccines already approved by the European Union and more elsewhere, in the coming months they are expected to reach the private market and, from there, organizations can change their rules.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already stated that it will buy vaccines for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics "when possible" and getting vaccinated could be a condition of participation.

The Champions League or the NBA could soon take the same path.

There will be athletes who do not want to go through the puncture and no one will be able to force them, but, yes, they will be excluded and their claims will possibly fall on deaf ears. "The sport is based entirely on a framework of relationships of special support. What do you mean That the organizers can establish a series of rules and the athletes have no choice but to abide by them. There are examples of the anti-doping controls, the biological passport, the permanent location system ... If the IOC, for example, conditions There will be no doubt about participating in a covid vaccine: whoever wants to be in the Games must be vaccinated. Another thing is that someone wants to resort to that rule considering it unfair or disproportionate, but in this case, as it benefits public health, they will not have a long journey ", points out Borja Osés, an expert lawyer in the fight against doping and Juan Domingo Monforte settled:" To vaccinate you need express consent, an organization

An adorer or a club cannot oblige, but the vaccine will end up being forced will.

If the IOC, the League or the NBA establish that athletes must be vaccinated, they may refuse, but it will imply the end of their career.

Of course, following the in dubio pro salute principle, that is to say, in case of doubt, health prevails, if the vaccine has a side effect that harms the athlete when competing, the athlete may seek responsible and demand compensation.

And I would have the upper hand. "

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