Ivan Nadein, president of Veres Rivne, commented on the initiative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine to allow fans to enter the stands of Ukrainian sports arenas during official competitions.
- "We are currently on a break in the championship. The team's next home match will take place at the end of February. We hope that by that time we will see official documents and relevant explanations from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. "Veres regularly advocates the return of fans to the stands, provided that all safety standards are met. We have already allowed shareholders who are co-owners of the club to the stands. Our position is that if concerts and theatrical performances are held with the participation of spectators, but sports are held with empty stands, it is wrong. This does not allow sports to develop.
We understand that there is a war going on, that there are security requirements. There are shelters at the Avangard stadium in Rivne, and there are shelters within walking distance. We could host 1100-1200 fans at Avangard. All of them could go to the shelter if necessary. In fact, we have already developed the mechanism of the working group envisaged by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. When we started promoting this idea last year, we said that we had the approval of the Regional Defence Council, Rivne Regional Military Administration, and the State Emergency Service. We lacked political will at the state level. Today we have it.
We are well aware of the capabilities of our shelters and the logistics of the audience. And it's definitely safer than gathering people in fan zones in the squares, as was suggested earlier. The decision to allow fans to enter the stands will allow us to think about some kind of development of football and sports in general even now. We need to get used to living in these conditions. Because our struggle continues in two dimensions: the first is for our borders, and the second is for our children and grandchildren. Football helps to educate our youth and give them hope that life goes on," Nadein said.