Greek Minister of Health: 'I am not happy for the view of OAKA' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

The Greek Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris, spoke about new restrictive measures in the venues, referring to yesterday's Greek derby at OAKA, per SDNA.gr.

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"The fans will force us to take restrictive measures. I can not understand... Does the fan prefer to watch the match on TV, instead of watching it in the stands with the mask? Those, who saw yesterday's image in the derby, were certainly upset. Supporters come in vaccinated but do not wear a mask. If the same phenomenon continues, we will have to take new measures. I say it as a message and as a request," said Plevris.

Then, he noted: "I am an Olympiacos fan and I was happy for the victory but I was sad as Minister of Health that they were not wearing a mask. If the measures are not observed in the next games, from January 3, we will go to a small percentage of fans at the arenas or not at all.

Fans will either watch their squad on TV or in a small percentage lively. And it is a pity because 50%-60% of fans follow the measures and they should not be punished."

Fans in this Greek derby are a chapter of their own. The official EuroLeague count stopped at 11.700, but that number is very far from the real one which approached 14.000. It was -by far- the largest crowd ever gathered in a Greek arena in the pandemic era (since March 2020).

Nevertheless, there's a shadow hanging over Greek sports. Come next week, the government is expected to impose another lockdown on indoor and outdoor sports activities, including basketball games.

The measure will have an almost immediate effect, starting from January 3. This means that the upcoming Olympiacos-CSKA and Panathinaikos-Zalgiris contests will probably be the last ones held in Greece with fans in the stands - at least for the foreseeable future.

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