{"id":131822,"date":"2020-04-01T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T22:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=131822"},"modified":"2020-04-01T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T23:16:25","slug":"belarusian-soccer-only-league-left-to-bet-on-because-president-says-virus-cured-by-vodka-and-saunas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/belarusian-soccer-only-league-left-to-bet-on-because-president-says-virus-cured-by-vodka-and-saunas\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian Soccer Only League Left to Bet Because President Says Virus Cured by Vodka and Saunas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since coronavirus canceled all the sports, the Belarusian Premier League (BPL) has acquired an unprecedented level of significance among soccer-starved fans and sports bettors. Outside of the small, landlocked former Soviet Bloc republic, they would otherwise only have been very dimly aware of the existence of Belarusian soccer.<\/p>\n

\"Belarus
There\u2019s no social distancing at Belarusian soccer games and there are concerns that President Alexander Lukashenko\u2019s (inset) coronavirus policy is playing with people\u2019s lives. (Image: Reuters\/Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it could be putting people’s lives at risk.<\/p>\n

With the exception of Australia\u2019s A-League, which is in the final throws of its season and is being played behind closed doors, the BPL is the only professional soccer league that we know of still functioning in the world.<\/p>\n

But unlike the A-League, the BPL is not trying to quickly close out its season before its players hunker into lockdown, nor is it denying paying fans entry to the stadiums.<\/p>\n

In fact, the league is only two games into its season.<\/p>\n

\n

Last Saturday saw six BPL matches, including the headliner between local rivals FC Minsk and Dinamo Minsk, which was watched by a full-capacity, 3,000-strong crowd in the Belarus capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But why?<\/p>\n

It may have something to so with Belarus\u2019s strong-arm president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been characterized by media outlets in the West as \u201cEurope\u2019s last dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Tractors Cure Everything\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Lukashenko is convinced that the world is overreacting to the coronavirus. He says it\u2019s nothing that can\u2019t be cured by a few shots of vodka (but not at work) and a sauna.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has gone mad from the coronavirus,\u201d he told The Times<\/em> in London over the weekend. \u201cThis psychosis has crippled national economies almost everywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be any panic,\u201d he told citizens in a public address earlier this month. \u201cYou just have to work, especially now, in a village. Tractors will cure everyone! The field heals everyone!\u201d<\/p>\n

And Lukashenko\u2019s official advice for warding off the virus?<\/p>\n

Go to the sauna. Two or three times a week will do you good. When you come out of the sauna, not only wash your hands, but also your insides with 100 milliliters of vodka.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Belarus has reported only around 100 cases and, on Tuesday, its first death. But the true figures are likely to be much higher, and privately, many citizens are becoming concerned.<\/p>\n

Players Union Weighs In<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many believe that the issue has become a matter of pride for the President, who is determined to prove that he is right and the rest of the world is wrong at the expense of people’s lives.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the head of the global soccer players’ union, FifPro, said it was \u201cfrankly not comprehensible\u201d that the BPL was in full swing during the crisis.<\/p>\n

FifPro General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said that while his organization does not have representation in Belarus, he was appealing for the league to take the \u201csame cautionary measures that have been taken in the rest of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Belarusian teams appear to be enjoying the limelight. Dynamo Minsk spokesman Alexander Strok told The Sun<\/em> this week he hoped the international audience would stay tuned to the league once the sporting schedule returned to normal elsewhere.<\/p>\n

“We hope it will improve the level of the game, because the players may get more responsible,\u201d he said. “[New fans] will not only watch English or Italian leagues, but also the Belarus one from time to time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since coronavirus canceled all the sports, the Belarusian Premier League (BPL) has acquired an unprecedented level of significance among soccer-starved fans and sports bettors. Outside of the small, landlocked former Soviet Bloc republic, they would otherwise only have been very dimly aware of the existence of Belarusian soccer. But it could be putting people’s lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":131833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy is Belarus Soccer Only League Left to Bet On?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Belarus soccer is popular. But there are concerns about the Belarusian Premier League because of President Lukashenko\u2019s dangerous coronavirus policy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/belarusian-soccer-only-league-left-to-bet-on-because-president-says-virus-cured-by-vodka-and-saunas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why is Belarus Soccer Only League Left to Bet On?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Belarus soccer is popular. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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