Vincenzo Spadafora, the Italian government minister for sport and youth policies, has admitted he felt Serie A should have been postponed sooner than it was.
Serie A is currently on hold until at least April 3 due to the latest Italian government decree which means sporting events cannot take place and whilst some leagues did not hesitate to put a halt to things, Spadafora has accussed those at the helm for not wanting to take on responsibility for the situation.
“Many sports autonomously decided to stop due to the Coronavirus emergency and my thanks go out to them. Football is a world in itself though and there was a time when the Lega Serie A did not want to take responsibility that they should have,” he explained in an interview with Italian radio station Radio Rai Uno earlier on tonight.
“There are now some Coronavirus positive players and we would have ultimately preferred for Serie A to stop earlier but it is better late than never.”
He then went on to share his delight that some clubs are making an effort to help out in these extraordinary circumstances with many sides having made donations and others raising funds.
Inter are among the clubs to have taken action with them having donated over 600,000 masks and also donated €100,000 toward research into the virus.
“Many teams are raising funds for the emergency and we are happy about it, these are gestures of solidarity that we appreciate very much.”
In conclusion he was asked when he thinks things will be back to normal.
“The doctors will tell us that at the end of the month or at the beginning of April. We will have to see the results of all these sacrificial actions we are asking people to make. If things improve, as well all hope, in the following weeks we will be able to resume an almost normal life.
