Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 9:41 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 21:45

Mark Rutte does not intend to postpone the closing time for amateur sports by a few hours. Part of the House of Representatives had requested that that time be moved to, for example, 20:00, but Rutte rejected the request. “I have great difficulty with this,” said the outgoing Prime Minister during the corona debate.

“You then get large groups of people who start moving with bringing and collecting”, argues Rutte. “We can’t have that.” D66, CDA, SP and GroenLinks, among others, are asking for the measures for amateur athletes to be relaxed. SP and GroenLinks want this to apply in any case to outdoor athletes.

However, Rutte does not intend to comply. According to the outgoing prime minister, the concerns in the hospital are currently too great to think about relaxation. Rutte asked the House to come up with alternative measures in any case, to compensate for any relaxation for amateur athletes. He promised that young people would be the first to get the chance to exercise again in the evening, if there is room for it.

Rutte’s statements mean bad news for amateur football. The KNVB already canceled the matches in the A-category (performance competitions) for next weekend. Now that the amateurs are not allowed to train in the evenings in the coming weeks, the football association seems forced to cancel the matches after this weekend. For the B category (recreational competitions), the competition program will continue for both youth and seniors. Teams that do not want to play football can count on leniency and cooperation from the football association. Following the parliamentary debate, the KNVB will soon make a decision about amateur football in the coming weeks.