The sports sector is hoping that it will be able to organise "test in-person" events following the announcement last week that a “test concert” will be held in the city of Spa by the end of March.
“We have been contacted by the Belgian Football Union, which wishes to be on the side of those who come up with solutions” for the public’s return to the stadiums, the co-organiser of the Francofolies de Spa music festival, MR parliamentarian Charles Gardier, said on Sunday.
The renewed interest in in-person events was spurred by the announcement last week by Gardier, the Ykons pop-rock group and the Spa Culture Centre that the test concert would be held in the thermal city in Belgium in late March.
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"We could also propose very soon, in any case before the end of March, a test basketball match at the Liège Country Hall, with the protocols that were defined in September and a scientific analysis of the data,” said Liège Basket Club manager Philippe Dodrimont, who is also an MR parliamentarian.
"Let’s join forces: the analysis of test events for culture, like the Ykons concert, can also be of use to the world of sport and vice versa,” Gardier said.
“Our aim is really to use all studies that can be done, whether in Wallonia, Flanders or Brussels and associate the different sectors that are still impacted by the crisis in a coordinated manner," he added.
What remains to be seen is how much time it will take to organise the test events and analyse the data that will be collected from them. “We have to become operational very quickly,” Gardier said.
“These initiatives will not slow things down and, thanks to the collected data and analysis, they could enable these sectors to reopen to the public even if infection figures go up.”
The two liberal legislators have already discussed this with the Sports Minister of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Valérie Glatigny, who “supports the idea” and will table it at the inter-ministerial conference on sports, billed for 17 March, they said.
The Brussels Times
