Shakhtar and Metalist inaugurate a competition that ended in December 2021 and is revived eight months later in neutral venues, stadiums that remain and more or less safe areas
With the land on fire and the smell of gunpowder, in the midst of destruction and death, football emerges as the protective shield against barbarity and nonsense. After eight months of silence, begun with a winter break and extended by the outbreak of war, the ball is rolling again in a country devastated by bombs and invaded by Russian troops. The Ukrainian Premier League returns this Tuesday with four games (Shakhtar-Metalist, Odessa-Veres Rivne, Zorya-Vorskla and Kolos Kovalivka-Kryvbas) and aims to be a more than symbolic response from a people who refuse to disappear and shout to the world that he plans to win the most important match of his life. With the projectiles still falling, with barely damaged infrastructure and with fighting on several fronts, the 16 clubs that make up the Ukrainian first division will begin this Tuesday a championship of uncertain development characterized by the exceptional nature of a situation that it still does not allow to guess the solution of the armed conflict.
The date of the start of the competition was not chosen arbitrarily. This Tuesday marks the day of the Ukrainian flag, a day before the national holiday of independence. The ball is rolling in the middle of the madness, but with a very clear goal: to convey the message of resistance and normality that the country has been pursuing since the Russian invasion six months ago. “It is a signal to the world that Ukraine can and will win,” said the government led by Volodimir Zelensky. The last game of the Ukrainian league was played on December 12 and then came the usual winter break. What no one – or almost no one – thought was that the stands would shut up and the guns would speak, that normality would be blown up and that football would disappear into the rubble of a state struggling to survive. Now it is reborn to give hope to millions of people orphaned by positive incentives.
Logically, the question is asked: where are the games played in a country at war, still burning and moving among the rubble? The martial law governing life in Ukraine has allowed a series of “safe” stadiums to be tried in the areas least punished by barbarity, as explained in a Relevo thread. There are eight recognized camps in four different cities: Kiev, Kovalivka, Lviv and Uzhorod. The locations chosen must in turn meet a number of requirements. Obviously there will be no audience in the halls and the accreditations will be limited -players, technicians, referees, journalists, security services-; Evacuation plans have been devised requiring shelters no more than 500 meters away from the stadiums; In the event of an air raid siren, it will be reported via a public address system, the referee will determine the end of the crash and the site will be evacuated. “This will cheer you up. It is a unique initiative. Football against war in war situations. Football for peace,” said Andriy Hrozny, president of the Ukrainian Football Association.
Between this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the first day is expected to be completed. The second digit calendada on weekends. Two teams have stopped playing because they do not have the minimum facilities to play football. Desna Chernihiv and Mariupol reported that they cannot participate. “Mariupol FC no longer exists,” said his player Oleksandr Drambayev on the occasion of the invasion. Metalist Kharkiv and Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, the top two teams in the silver division at the time the competitions were suspended, will take their place. The sound of the ball once again fills a small part of Ukraine’s void, as great as his desire to regain his lost life. Hope fits in a ball, which after eight months of silence wants to be stronger than bullets.
Source: La Verdad
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