Third wave halts sports
“I think everyone agreed we will have to take the whole Covid-19 thing much more seriously.”
The rising number of Covid-19 cases seems to have knocked the stuffing out of the 2021 sports season.
Local football and rugby stars have seen their seasons halted after administrators felt the third wave of the virus has been too difficult to manage.
The Valke Rugby Union put out a statement on Friday saying the season, which kicked off in May, would be suspended until July 12.
“Following the alarming surge of Covid cases in Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng, the Valke Rugby Union executive committee, after serious consideration, suspends all club rugby activities with immediate effect until July 12,” said Valke Rugby CEO Ettienne de Lange.
While the union may say the season could resume next month, many are not convinced there will be more club rugby action this year.
“Most of the clubs are finished for the season. I don’t think there is a way the clubs can come back after a month again. It is now the third time the club will be in isolation,” said Brakpan Rugby Club chairperson Harry Nieuwenhuis.
“As it is, we had one of the senior coaches of Vereeniging Rugby Club, Stefan Jacobs, who went to training on Thursday last week, get sick and he died on Saturday. I think everyone agreed we will have to take the whole Covid thing much more seriously,
“So the chance of us getting back to training is not very good. We’ll have to revisit this idea at the end of July. Discussions with most of the people around us and most of the clubs at Valke Rugby Union indicate the 2021 season is basically over. That’s unfortunately it.”
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Brakpan only played two matches against East Rand United and Vaal University of Technology.
That, however, is two more than last year when the whole season was called off before a single tackle due to the pandemic.
The chances of seeing the first team run out are extremely slim and chances for the juniors are even less.
“There will definitely be no junior rugby whatsoever for this season,” said Brakpan’s chairperson.
While the Valke’s statement came out on Friday, the Easterns Local Football Association suspended their season on Thursday.
Unlike rugby, football has been halted until June 24.
Brakpan Spurs has taken the wait-and-see approach to the matter.
“For now we’ll just wait until June 24 and hope they open because it’s never easy to tell children soccer is closed again,” said Spurs manager Jabulani Munene.
