August finish for the PSL
NOT EASY: ALL LOCAL CLUBS MUST ADHERE TO STRICT HEALTH PROTOCOLS
Next year’s Africa Cup of Nations has been postponed to 2022.
Jonty Mark
The Premier Soccer League have told Fifa that they intend to finish the 2019/20 season by August 30, and detailed to their 32 clubs at a Board of Governors meeting yesterday the strict health protocols they must follow before they can start training.
Fifa set a deadline of yesterday for leagues to tell them when they intend to finish, and the PSL want to get everything done by August 30, so that they can then start the 2020/21 campaign in October.
The PSL, led by chairman Irvin Khoza, have been determined to get the season finished, as opposed to calling it off, ever since football in South African went into lockdown in mid-March.
An added snag is that clubs need to follow a costly process to get themselves ready to train, that includes the testing of all their staff and players for Covid-19, not just before they start training, but every at least twice more while they prepare for the season to begin as well.
All training facilities must be fully sanitised too, with compliance certificates sent to the PSL.
Many clubs, like Kaizer Chiefs and Bidvest Wits, have already done their testing, but the price of keeping a clean bill of health is likely to hit the pockets of some of the smaller clubs hard, with the cost estimated by one club owner yesterday at around R60 000.
There is also concern that some clubs may not fully follow the health protocols, and that once they arrive for the season ending camp, taking place under strict health regulations of its own, there could be an outbreak of Covid-19 that disrupts the season finale.
South African Football Association Chief Medical Officer Thulani Ngwenya did tell the South African Football Journalists Association that if all health protocols were followed, he estimated the chance of an outbreak at just one percent.
The Citizen understands that the PSL intend to finish the season off in Gauteng and KwaZulu
Natal, the two provinces with the necessary venues to be able to accommodate all the matches. This is particularly in light of the fact that all the games in the Absa Premiership and the GladAfrica Championship in the last two game-weeks have to be played simultaneously.
It looks likely that the 2019/20 season will begin and end in August, with the Nedbank Cup, currently at the semifinal stage - also played to a conclusion.
Exact details of the season resumption are expected to be released by the league to clubs today.
The Confederation of African Football, meanwhile, yesterday announced the posptonement of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled for Cameroon in January, by a year.