Refs demand Covid-19 test
ZIFA panel referees are up in arms with the national association for going ahead with plans to hold a week-long course in which 93 of them will participate without being tested for Covid-19.
They have questioned if the Government gave the green light to the holding of such a course considering the number of referees that are meant to gather for it.
The referees said as far as they were concerned the only football activity green lighted was for all representative national teams, Premier Soccer League teams and Women’s Soccer League.
Some referees told Chronicle Sport that without prior Covid-19 testing, they were seriously considering boycotting the course.
“These guys (Zifa) are organising a course for 93 referees and they want us to attend without being tested. We can’t use our own resources for testing because we have been inactive for a while now so Zifa must find the money and get us tested instead of this risky behaviour they are taking,” said a referee.
Another one said the other option would be for Zifa to conduct the course for the 15 international referees.
“They must just say Fifa referees whose numbers are actually within Government stipulation and it makes sense for Fifa referees because international matches are starting next month,” the referee said.
Zifa communications competitions manager Xolisani Gwesela said the association remains guided by the return to football protocols.
“We will be guided by our return to football protocols. In this Covid-19 era, no football activity can ever take place without guidance from football medicine and protocols,” said Gwesela.
On Friday, the Government, through the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), gave permission to football teams to resume group training while competitive matches, set to be held in empty stadia, will be under a bio-bubble and in a mini-league format.
In a letter to Zifa secretary-general Joseph Mamutse, SRC director-general Prince Mupazviriho said training had been okayed with effect from last Thursday, while proper competition would be conducted in a bio-bubble format, just like what happened in South Africa.
He said approval was for the Premier Soccer League, Women’s Soccer League and all national teams.
“The resumption of football activities shall take the format of the mini-league using the bubble concept adopted by yourselves. The football activities in addition to the requirements specified by World Health Organisation (WHO) for safe resumption of sport, Statutory Instrument 200 of 2020, your submitted protocols, other legislation and policy directives relating to the prevention and containment of Covid-19, be subject to the following conditions; strict adherence to the bubble concept, implementation of Standard Operating Procedures and Zifa and its affiliates to provide resources and finances to undertake those activities,” said the SRC.