AS Saint-Etienne : Ligue 1 / Coronavirus – The Covid-19 commission of the LFP justifies the postponement of Marseille – ASSE | ASSE News

LIGUE 1 – Emmanuel Orhant, medical director of the FFF and member of the “Covid commission” of the LFP, justifies the postponement of the Marseille – Saint-Etienne match, scheduled for this Friday, while some votes in Ligue 1 are starting to rise to denounce an overly strict health protocol.

Emmanuel Orhant, faced with the four cases of Covid-19 detected in the Marseille workforce, Marseille-Saint-Etienne reporter, initially scheduled for Friday, was it inevitable?

Emmanuel Orhant. : “It was decided that from four isolated players, this required caution because it means that the virus is circulating in the club. A player, we can say that it is a coincidence, a second or a third too , but a fourth one could not more. For the government, the concept of cluster arises with three cases, and we said to ourselves that from a fourth case, one no longer controlled the sanitary conditions. The role of the commission Covid is to say: “Be careful, restrictions are necessary to protect the health of the players but also that of the opposing team.” Objectively, there was only that to make as a decision. ”

Some clubs find the health protocol drastic and fear cascading postponements. What do you answer them?

E.O. : “The origin is above all the rules set by the government. Sport is not above the law, we are thinking with the government but at any time it can impose restrictions on us, as in April when ‘he decided that the sport could not continue. The protocol was written three, four weeks ago, we were not in the current conditions. It may not be valid in two weeks, depending on what the government will decide. The clubs must understand that. We are thinking about health: the player from Montpellier (editor’s note: Junior Sambia, hospitalized after contracting the virus) has clearly shown us that the Covid could also affect the football player We cannot let the doctors of the clubs take risks with the health of the players. On postponements, the health evolution does not allow us to know how it will evolve. A training is three hours in a day. A player is therefore 9 pm next to manage his life. Everyone needs to understand that everyone who revolves around the players must be above reproach. Social distancing and the wearing of a mask should allow the curve to evolve downwards. Let us not forget that if the curve evolves upwards, entire cities will be confined, and we will no longer talk about three or four cases but of several weeks without a match. ”

How can we explain that the major championships have ended their season without a hitch this summer, and that some others, like Belgium, have resumed without worry in recent days?

E.O. : “We too had zero cases during the training period (June-July). It was very easy to finish a championship in June or July because the sanitary conditions were good. But you have to put it into context: in This moment in Spain there are also dozens of cases. Belgium has resumed without any problem, maybe they are a little bit more spared from the risks surrounding the players, I can’t afford to judge . Perhaps the circulating virus is very important in our region, perhaps their daily number of cases is different … There is no secret: today in France, the clubs of Marseille, Nîmes and Montpellier are affected, but there are three cities impacted by the Covid-19 in the general situation … “