Basket rumors

Dear Mr. Perry!
We realise basketball and professional sports in general is facing a challenging period both from health and financial perspective. EuroLeague Players’ Association is always taking into consideration all aspects of the busines in order to make sport we love so much even better and although we want all stakeholders satisfied in the process, our first priority are the players, especially their health and safety.

We would like to use this opportunity to express serious concerns regarding the continuation and protocols of the Israeli Winner League. We are very well aware that domestic competitions lie outside ELPA’s jurisdiction, however, we can not look away and not worry if ELPA members playing in the Winner League find themselves playing without best possible conditions amid the COVID-19 crisis.

We are extremely worried about health and safety protocols that have been put in place by Winner League for the continuation of competition as we believe these protocols do not contain sufficient health and safety measures. Moreover, the self-isolation of players in their homes until the end of the season, especially after almost 3 months of quarantine, is simply not humane and serious concerns lie with what effect this can have on players mental health.

Besides Israeli, only two domestic competitions in Europe (Spanish and German) have decided to conclude their season and in both cases players are facing detailed health and safety protocols, without any need for rigorous quarantine during the competition or a treatment that is different from other citizens. The competition organiser should be required to guarantee safety for players regarding practices and games, and impose proper health and safety measures.

If this can not be ensured and in order not to face future consequences, it should be considered to drastically change current protocols or re-think canceling the competition, as many other domestic and international leagues have already done. In professional sports, there should be no doubt that players’ physical and mental help has to be everyone’s number one priority.
It is extremely important not to take into consideration only the risk of infection by COVID-19, but big risk of injuries and players’ mental state that could affect their careers and also change the image and the future of the league.

In case you find it impossible to cancel the competition, we would kindly like to ask you to include a rigorous COVID-19 testing regime for players and all other staff involved, to change the rule of self-isolation at home during the preparation period and competition and to present the players, coaches and personel of all clubs a medically supported protocol, essential to assure better environment for any league. If you find it useful, in the spirit of protecting players and our members as best as possible, ELPA is willing to assist by sharing expertise gathered from competitions in other countries and competitions on how to improve the current protocol system.