The corona crisis and the current debates about contact and access restrictions for unvaccinated people now also have a direct impact on the management of a large sports club in the Starnberg district: Achim Loecher, previous president of TV Planegg-Krailling, wrote an open letter to members and fellow board members declares his resignation with immediate effect. “The current political decisions on the subject of Corona measures (especially 2G) can no longer be reconciled with my voluntary work and I personally have a complete lack of understanding,” said the club’s former volleyball department head.
Unvaccinated people are excluded from public, social and sporting areas in order to exercise an indirect compulsory vaccination, writes Loecher: “From my point of view, this is discrimination in its purest form, from which I clearly and publicly distance myself.” Vaccination is “a purely private matter”. His own vaccination status does not play a role. “Even if the new measures are to be limited in time, I do not believe that the political commitments will be kept,” said Loecher.
And the outgoing chairman becomes even clearer: The TV Planegg-Krailling must implement the new regulations accordingly. “Personally, however, I do not want to be either the executive assistant or the extended arm in the implementation of government and political decisions.”
In his statement, the sports official does not say a word about the currently skyrocketing number of infections, the exceptional situation in the intensive care units and the responsibility attributed to those who refuse to be vaccinated for these conditions. The presidium colleagues had “controversially discussed” the decision with Loecher, says the previous Vice President Stephanie Mehnert. “He had had a different opinion than the rest of us for a long time, but he always left it out because it was clear that we as a club would adhere to the rules.”
Loecher will remain as an advisor to the 1,600-member association, and she will offer herself as acting chairwoman at the meeting of the association’s council on Monday, December 13th. “If someone else wanted to, I wouldn’t say no either,” explains Mehnert. The next assembly of delegates will take place in spring 2022, but she cannot yet say whether she would like to take over the office of president in the longer term.
“We definitely want to try to make the sport possible for our members as best we can and continue to make it possible under the existing rules,” says Stephanie Mehnert.