Alex football plays the waiting game to resume activity

Alexandra football is playing the waiting game for the mother body of all things football to finally lift the ban on the beautiful game imposed soon after the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 virus.

The South African Football Association (Safa) has not indicated when it might lift the ban on local football to allow children to return to the field of play but has given the green light to the business side of professional, the Premier Soccer League, to start preparations in readiness to complete the unfinished 2019/20 season of the Absa Premiership and the GladAfrica Championship.

Work on the possibility of a return to the grounds of amateur football is already understood to be underway at Safa but no one wants to open their mouth on this project being undertaken before the opportune time, knowing very well the consequences of such an act by the powers that be at the mother body’s Nasrec offices.”We’re still playing the waiting game,” said the secretary general of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (ANLFA), Malvin Khumalo, in answer to questions sent to him by Alex News.

“Until we hear word from Safa House, all leagues under Safa, including ours, remain suspended. It’s still not clear on the possibilities of completing the season,” Khumalo said, adding, “Only a clear directive from Safa and the Sports Ministry will give us direction as to what is going to happen.

“We would love to complete both the Sasol and the ANLFA Promotional League, but the safety of our players presides over football. We are keeping ourselves in the loop on what’s happening both globally and local. We shall be observing PSL and NFD [National First Division] games to see the measures being undertaken to familiarise ourselves with what other leagues are doing for possible adaptations.”

Although the measures and processes taken in the professional sphere to limit the spread of Covid-19 are unfortunately too expensive for us in the amateur football arena and development level, we remain optimistic for the adoption of measures that will work in our midst.

“He said their members needed to understand the situation at hand which he described as ‘very abnormal’ and urged them to take advantage of the good news around individual exercise which is now permitted under alert level 3 of the lockdown. He also cautioned association teams not to risk people’s lives. “I urge our members never to underestimate nor ignore the regulations as it is being rumoured that some of us are holding group training. Let us be patient, we all love our football, and we also love our players. Let’s protect them by doing the right thing.”