No football before Queen’s Birthday

New Zealand Football has announced that no football or futsal will take place until Queen’s Birthday weekend at the earliest.

It has also cancelled the Youth Futsal Championships that were scheduled for July as it continues to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement on Thursday said that the start (or resumption) of community football and futsal competitions at all age levels would take place no earlier than May 30.

Trainings may be able to resume on May 16, provided it is safe to do under the Covid-19 alert level that is in place at the time.

Central Football chief executive Darren Mason said in a Facebook post that the federation had been modelling what the winter season might look like once a start date is confirmed.

‘‘We believe that with a start date of 30 May, and even through to a start date of say Saturday 4 July 2020, enables some reasonable competition to be played with an extension into September, and maybe October if need be.

‘‘We are looking at various ways that we can get junior and senior football played and this has resulted in some innovative suggestions and discussions within the team.

‘‘The need to think differently to how we have traditionally delivered the game is exciting and has challenged the normal way we have done things, which we think is great.

‘‘You can be assured that our absolute priority is to ensure that our valued members have some football season in 2020 and we will be continuing to work towards making sure this is the case.’’