Events sector punished by cabinet mistakes: KNVB, MOJO

The results of the Fieldlab events should again guide the cabinet's coronavirus policy in the field of events. According to director Gijs de Jong of the KNVB and Ruben Brouwer of festival organizer MOJO, the Fieldlabs showed that both festivals and football matches can be safely held with 100 percent audience. In an interview with AD, the two said that the sector is being punished by mistakes of the cabinet.

"We fought hard for the Fieldlab experiments. It turned out that we can organize things in a safe way. But then almost nothing was done with it. That is strange," said De Jong in the newspaper. According to Brouwer, several mistakes were made when the coronavirus measures were relaxed in June. "The cabinet opted for 'Dancing with Janssen', extended the validity of a test from 24 to 40 hours, and used the results of Fieldab experiments to immediately open everything, including nightclubs. That's not what those experiments were meant for."

After the relaxation, the coronavirus figures rose explosively and the cabinet intervened again. As a result, stadiums can now only be two-thirds full and only one-day festivals (without fixed seats) can be organized with a maximum number of 750 people.

"We just have to look at the facts. That was the good thing about Fieldlabs. It was not about imaging or politics, but about science. I have the idea that they do that a lot more abroad. England has full stadiums, Germany is also working towards that, Belgium is fully engaged in events," said De Jong. Brouwer added in AD: "If you now see that Dutch young people buy tickets en masse for events in Belgium, which are held on the basis of Fieldlab results, then something is really going wrong."