President supports KTFF in ‘health row’

PRESIDENT Ersin Tatar has offered support to Cyprus Turkish Football Association (KTFF) chief Hasan Sertoğlu over the ongoing dispute with health authorities over the resumption of football.

Mr Tatar spoke to Mr Sertoğlu at an event in Gönyeli last Saturday where the two discussed the advice from the Communicable Diseases High Committee.

The committee had previously issued a series of conditions for the football season to start, including that if a goalkeeper tested positive for Covid-19 then the only other players who would have to go into quarantine would be the defenders.

The committee also suggested a track and trace system for footballers and that those who tested positive should spend seven days in quarantine at the Lapta Youth Camp followed by another seven days of self-isolation.

Mr Sertoğlu has said such measures are unworkable and that players who work in the private sector could face losing their jobs if they have to spend 14 days in quarantine.

Clubs will encounter the “uncertainty” that football could be suspended again “at any time”, he added.

On Tuesday the Players’ Football Association laid a black wreath outside the Health Ministry building under the slogan “give our football back”.

Mr Tatar reportedly told Mr Sertoğlu that the “track and trace system for football would be incredibly hard to implement” and that he “will take up the matter with Health Minister Ali Pilli”.

Speaking to CyprusToday’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs Mr Sertoğlu told: “My objective is to keep the clubs afloat. Some of the footballers are civil servants and they are saying that they can play comfortably, to the point that even if they did have to go into quarantine, it would not affect their work.

“They aren’t thinking of their other colleagues working in the private sector, who would face the risk of losing their employment if they had to be quarantined.”

Two days earlier Mr Sertoğlu issued a written statement setting out a number of proposals to end the football impasse.

He also called on the Cyprus Turkish Football Coaches’ Association and the Footballers’ Association to “share the risks with all stakeholders” and not only consider their “financial gain”.

“For months, I have not seen any kind of decision-making process,” Mr Sertoğlu said. “What is only being said is ‘give our football back’.

“I say, football is more valuable than your adventures . . . when the conditions are met to play football, then we will go on the field.”