The average male in Belarus is aged 40 or above, with over 16.4 liters of alcohol consumed per year. That is some of the highest stats in all of Europe in terms of alcohol consumption, and if you add the fact that Belarus men are not as literate as their women counterparts, it makes it a dangerous situation.
With humanity’s survival skills being put on the line with a global pandemic, people all around have adopted standards of protocol and measures to ensure their safety. One significant example of this is the worldwide closure of trade and international flights and the total lockdown of every public service except bare essentials.
Not in Belarus, though. The government labeled COVID-19 as a psychotic situation that has been oversold and is more of propaganda than truth. They never even went into lockdown even though the deaths from Corona have gone up to 260,000 people worldwide. The cases in Belarus alone are nearing twenty thousand with over a hundred deaths, and somehow still, the government believes that total shutdown is an exaggeration and unnecessary.
Because of that, it is the only country in the world where live sporting events are still taking place. The biggest one being, the Belarus Premier League, which had barely any fan following inside of Belarus, let alone outside.
But since no live events are allowed to take place, people from all around the world have gotten nuts about it. It has almost been fifty days without any public incident, and fans across the globe have become bloodthirsty for some live sporting action. Therefore, to add excitement in your boring and same routine.
Their most famous team was FC Slutsk, which gained a lot of attention worldwide due to its name. Even though they were formed a long time ago, they got the most fan following in the last few weeks alone. Australians, in particular, were extremely amused as they made various social media platforms to show their support, and the team was even featured on major news channels such as BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Russia today.
Because of this, they were able to raise money to address the club’s financial concerns. More than $3000 was collected by fans worldwide who would do anything to see live action on the television again. These funds helped the club secure their finances and pay their workers’ full livelihood.
Officials in Belarus may be looking forward to the premier league, but the team and their management have placed strict conditions. They have ensured that the matches will not be played if any of their players fall sick due to Corona.
So far, the real stats regarding the total sickness and the total deaths from Corona have been hidden, but with 100 plus deaths, managers and players alike, are willing to drop it all should anything go south.
Last year in the 8th position, this year, FC Slutsk unconventionally holds the top spot in the table as it hosts less than 2000 people in its meager sized stadium. YES, you can still go to the stadium and watch live matches in Belarus and there are various websites online that are tracking and monitoring live matches. You can also find out about various fixtures and the entire schedule of the Belarus Premier league online as some of them are actually very interesting.
Team members and club officials have protested against such llax safety and sanitary measures, which puts a shadow on the future of the Belarus Premier League and how it will end. Big names in the sports, such as the English Premier League and the Italian Serie A, all have postponed their seasons indefinitely, with millions of pounds of investments gone to waste.
Well, not in Belarus, where the government likes to live on the edge and take the lives of their citizens for granted. So far, more than five games have been played with no measures of cleanliness in place, and there seem to be no signs of stopping.
For the world to decrease the RO(R-naught) of Coronavirus, necessary measures such as social distancing are critical so that minimal people are exposed but not in Belarus where it is considered that the whole world is one big ‘pansy.’
