Italian Lawyer Giampiero Falasca: “Inter & Juventus Had Great Common Sense To Suspend Training”

Italian lawyer Giampiero Falasca explained the situation surrounding Italian clubs wanting their players to train and work during the Coronavirus emergency in an interview with Italian news outlet ANSA yesterday.

“The answer to the controversy can be found in the DPCM of the 9th March, where it is said that the training sessions can continue, provided that they take place behind closed doors and all the prevention measures established to contain the contagion are respected.”

The Italian lawyer then discussed how you cannot decide who is right and wrong overall, only by looking at the process of each club individually.

“Therefore, in the controversy between players and football clubs you cannot say who is right and who is not, you have to go and see, case by case, how the club intends to resume training. To resume training in safety, for example, one could think of reorganizing the common areas, avoiding any kind of close contact between the athletes, just as one could avoid all forms of training that require physical contact.”

Falasca then discussed how it’s important for the doctors to ensure that the athletes aren’t at risk of infection.

“An important role in risk management for athletes is played by the social doctor, as he must define procedures and controls suitable to contain the spread of the virus. The situation obviously changes if there is a case of contagion or in any case in well-founded suspicion that some of the athletes have been in contact with infected people.”

Finally, Falasca discussed how the postponement of training sessions is an obligatory gesture.

“In this case, the interruption of training is an obligatory gesture at least until the end of quarantine, as Juventus and Inter have done, with great common sense, followed by other teams.”

There has been a lot of controversy between some Italian clubs and the Italian Footballers’ Associations. The AIC has called for a complete shutdown of all training sessions during this period of the Coronavirus emergency, in order to protect the players and staff at the clubs and lower the risk of the contagion spreading.