Safa unlocks all local football activities as Covid-19 pandemic subsides
JOBURG – As the Covid-19 onslaught subsides, Safa has given the green light to local associations to return to the sports fields.
The long wait is over for Alexandra’s football-starved athletes as they will be delighted to learn that they will soon be returning to the sports fields.
This follows an announcement by the South African Football Association (Safa) that it had received the green light from the government to go ahead and unlock all local football activities. Safa acting CEO Advocate Tebogo Motlanthe said in a statement to all its 52 regions nationwide that the opening of all things football follows the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa’s decision to allow the resumption of all sporting activity in the country.
“We hereby authorise our affiliates [Safa regions and the USSA, etc.] to return to the football fields but with no spectators at the venues or precinct of the venue and subject to strict protocols of screening of the players and the constant washing of hands, wearing of masks and frequent sanitisation of the venue,” Motlanthe said. Motlanthe pointed out that Safa was responsible for putting measures in place to mitigate risks of transmission of the virus, hence, ‘we’re putting in place guidelines for our structures on how they can manage football during these difficult times’.
“We hereby implore our members to continue to observe and monitor the health and safety protocols before, during and after the matches in order to avoid spreading Covid-19 and Safa being labelled as an irresponsible sporting body.”
Safa Johannesburg Region, which controls all things around amateur football in the golden city, urged its members to continue the discipline they showed during the tough times of the football lockdown and adhere to the protocols put in place to save lives.
“We wish you well and hope for good leadership with the challenges that we all will be facing as we plod ahead in the unchartered waters,” said Safa Johannesburg Region CEO Colin Jones in a statement. Meanwhile, the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association’s secretary-general, Malvin Khumalo, welcomed the news of the unlocking of all things football and said the local football body would be meeting with all its affiliates to chart the way forward.
“We need to interrogate the protocols that have been put in place and see how we can help manage the spread of the pandemic and, more importantly, who foots the bill for the various PPEs that are needed in the mitigation of the spread of the pandemic,” Khumalo said.
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