South African Football Association (Safa) President Dr Danny Jordaan has announced on March 18 that all soccer related tournaments, matches and training will be postponed until April 4.
“We would like to be in line with FIFA and CAF, which are our governing bodies and end all activities until April 4, when we will revise the decision,” said Jordaan at the urgent press conference at Safa House on March 18.
“We will be sending our proposal to CAF and FIFA on the Covid-19.”
Safa’s head of medical Dr Thulani Ngwenya joined Dr Jordaan in stating that there is a risk for the players and that the association should be wary of the fact that they should first of all look at the safety of their players.
According to Ngwenya, he could not even test two international players for the virus. “Only an infected person can be tested, according to our government as there are not enough testing laboratories to work progressively.
“There are risks involved if one player carries the virus which is dormant for 14 days, he can carry it forward to another. These players have families and if they get infected, South Africa will have a very big problem,” said Ngwenya. He also explained the risks of continuing with football activities in full or empty stadiums.
Safa initially took the decision to suspend all soccer activities on March 16, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that Covid-19 has become a national disaster, urging South Africans to refrain from being in gatherings where there are 100 people and more.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has also made an announcement on Monday through their chairperson, Irvin Khoza, that the league, which consists of the Absa Premiership, GladAfrica championship and MultiChoice Diski challenge, will be postponed for a week.
South African Minister of Arts, Sports and Culture Nathi Mthethwa announced on Tuesday that domestic soccer may continue behind closed doors in light of minimising the risk of the spread of the coronavirus.
This was in contract with Safa’s decision. “I had to have a meeting with the minister, but is was cancelled as he had other urgent matters to deal with,” said Jordaan, “But Safa will continue following its decision and we have no idea of what the PSL will decide on Thursday at their board meeting.”
The PSL Board of Governors, the 32-member clubs of the league, are expected to have an urgent meeting on where they’ll discuss a possible way forward.
The minister and Safa’s offices are clearly on different routes regarding the commencement of the domestic football. With Safa having axed all soccer activities till April 4 and not allowing any matches to be played, they will deal with the matter as soon as as a way forward from the PSL is reached.
All professional leagues around the world, such as Italy, Spain, Germany and France stopped soccer activities as they have seen a number of professional players contract the virus. “If all the leagues around the world have been suspended, why should South Africa do something that doesn’t work?” said Jordaan.
Major soccer tournaments, such as the EURO 2020 and Copa America are all postponed for at least a year, while CAF has suspended the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and 2020 Champions League campaign.
