Loftus ‘ghost town’ awaits South Africa’s Super Rugby players

South Africa’s Super Rugby players are in for a big surprise. They will walk into a “ghost town” at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday when domestic rugby resumes this weekend.

After becoming accustomed to playing in front of thousands of fans (well, most of the time anyway), they will be greeted by literally only a handful of people on Super Fan Saturday – and most of those “fans” will be their own team-mates, the opposition players and coaching staff, and a few medical personnel and stadium staff.

It will be like nothing the players have been used to experiencing before on a match day.

And then there are the Covid-19 protocols that will be in place, to ensure a safe match environment for the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers players.

Only a maximum of 174 people will be allowed inside the stadium on Saturday and for all rugby matches during the current climate – something the players and coaching teams will have to get used to very quickly.

But, because Saturday’s match at Loftus Versfeld is a double-header, involving four teams, the protocols are even stricter.

Only two teams will be permitted inside the Loftus stadium at any time. This means that the Lions and Stormers, who play the second match at 7pm, will only be allowed into the ground once the Bulls and Sharks players have left the stadium, with their match scheduled to finish around 6pm.

Four sterilised, separate, change-rooms will be prepared for the teams; there will be no sharing of changing facilities.

“It’s going to be a very different environment for the players,” said SA Rugby’s senior manager of medical, Clint Readhead.

Furthermore, there will be no mingling between the players after their match; they will finish the game, walk to the change-rooms, change their footwear, grab their kit-bags, and leave.

Getting to this point, of rugby restarting, has required plenty of hard graft by SA Rugby, the franchises and their medical officers, and many other stakeholders, including MyPlayers, the body that represents the players’ needs.

The players first got back into non-contact training nine weeks ago, after rugby had ground to a halt in mid-March because of the coronavirus.

Strict government guidelines were followed and these included regular testing for the players and coaching teams, online screening, the wearing of masks and the use of sanitiser.

Five weeks ago, the players got the go-ahead for contact training, and for a return to rugby. Currently, and as has been the case for weeks now, players are tested every Tuesday and with rugby starting up on Saturday they will be required to answer Covid-19 screening questions online on Friday, while temperatures will also be taken. Every player will know his result and Covid status on Saturday morning.

“The actual weekly preparation, and build-to, to a match now isn’t very different to what it was like previously,” said Readhead. “The only major difference is that a lot of attention is now given to screening and testing.”

The wearing of masks will be compulsory for those who aren’t playing on Saturday, while social distancing and the use of sanitiser will be encouraged.

“A number of people have worked extremely hard for us to get to this point where we have got rugby back up and running,” said Readhead. “I think we’ve done everything we can to mitigate the risks.”

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