Alex football ready to rumble under strict Covid-19 protocols

The Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association has met with 45 member clubs with a minimum of four teams each to discuss the way forward on football matters in the township following the unlocking of local football activities.

The South African Football Association (Safa) announced two weeks ago that it had received the green light from the government to open up local football and allow amateur teams to resume all football activity but under strict Covid-19 protocols. Malvin Khumalo, secretary-general of the Alex Northrand LFA, said his association had met with clubs to map the way forward and to officially announce the resumption of all football activities in the township.

“The meeting has since taken place with the clubs after Safa had given us the Covid-19 regulations to start or resume football. The clubs must first comply with the regulations prior to the resumption of any football-related issues,” Khumalo added. Under the protocols, clubs would be required to communicate with the Alex Northrand LFA compliance officer on all the regulations that needed to be observed, and they too were required to appoint their own compliance officers, he added.

Khumalo said the clubs had resolved that the juniors league, which includes U10 up to U17, would start the new league season in 2021 on a date still to be determined, however, pending compliance, clubs could start preparing their teams now. Juniors will start a completely new season as they had never kicked a ball at all in the 2020 season. “We shall consider the 2020 season as water under the bridge,” he said.

On the question of who would foot the bill for all the club PPEs and related equipment as most clubs were cash-strapped, Khumalo said the burden of the safety of players was on the clubs but the LFA would be willing to assist subject to monetary resources being available.

“It’s unfortunate that this pandemic has affected everyone financially which is also affecting our clubs severely. We cannot promise anything at the moment as we are also barely surviving.” He pointed out that any games taking place now would be dependent on the accessibility of facilities that must also be Covid-19 compliant.

“We continue to work together with the stakeholders such as the City of Johannesburg to assist in making the stadia ready for football. “We hope and believe that the football fraternity and the community at large will work with us to safely bring back football for the enjoyment of their little ones and others too.”

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