Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 09:07• Last update: 09:19

A fuss has arisen within the youth academy of NEC because the club makes a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated, reports the Gelderlander. Youth players, trainers and parents do not exactly agree with the method of the club from Nijmegen. NEC Under-21 team manager Pascal Arnts will retire because of the distinction after ten years at NEC.

The newspaper announces that youth players who have not been vaccinated against the corona virus are not allowed to train with the first team. Youth players without a vaccination campaign are obliged to keep a distance of one and a half meters on the bench next to the field. During competition discussions and strength training, they are obliged to wear a face mask and are only welcome if they can demonstrate a negative corona test. They must undergo a rapid test every Monday and Friday. These rules do not apply to youth players who are fully vaccinated. Arnts, also coordinator of the arbitration and leaders of the youth academy, has stopped his work due to the corona policy.

In the 21-strong roster of NEC Under-21, 12 players have refused a vaccination. Three of them have a professional contract and have the potential to make it to the first team. By refusing the vaccine and the rules of the club, they see their chances in the main force go up in smoke for the time being. “This policy is based on the rules drawn up by the KNVB and the RIVM, the national policy,” a spokesperson for NEC said in a response to the newspaper. “An important detail is that this has been and disseminated to everyone’s satisfaction for a year and a half. If an individual is against that now, that is on his account. We will not suddenly change our policy.”

“At NEC, where we work daily with almost 200 youth players, more than 30 senior players (and more than half on continuous guidance), we cannot deviate from national agreements on the opinions of one or a few individuals,” said the spokesperson. . As chairman of the players’ union VVCS, Evgeniy Levchenko says in a reaction to the regional newspaper that NEC does not follow the rules at all. “The club is not allowed to ask if someone has been vaccinated. I don’t think it’s fair that there is a difference between the players. That is also not what we have agreed with the KNVB.” The KNVB and the Ministry of Health were not yet able to respond to NEC’s corona policy on Tuesday afternoon to the newspaper.