PSL and Safa meet amid confusion over training resumption
The Premier Soccer League and the South African Football Association met on Monday morning, with it unclear whether all PSL clubs will be able to resume non-contact training during level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Gavin Hunt, former coach of Bidvest Wits, is the favourite to take over at Chiefs (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
Bidvest Wits head coach told Phakaaathi on Monday “I don’t know, we should know in the next one or two days”, when asked if he knew if it was safe to start small group, non-contact training again.
Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa gave presentation on Saturday where he said contact sports were allowed to start training again under level 3, but he blurred the lines when he said no sport would be allowed in coronavirus hotspots.
The hotspots include main metros like Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, but AmaZulu, from Durban and Cape Town City, from Cape Town, were happily declaring a return to training this week on social media.
It’s the first day of #Level3 lockdown, which means we are able to return to training 👀
One step closer to stepping onto the pitch again 🙏🏽#Usuthu_Pride pic.twitter.com/9S7laoYB7o
— AmaZulu FC (@AmaZuluFootball) June 1, 2020
Times change, but we keep up! 😷🦠
City’s training complex has undergone full sanitization for the players’ return to Hartleyvale tomorrow!#Level3Lockdown #iamCityFC pic.twitter.com/l44fko0cY2
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) June 1, 2020
The PSL and Safa have put together a joint task team to make a presentation to government on how the PSL can resume, with the league determined to complete the 2019/20 season.
Phakaaathi understands the plan is to finish the campaign in July, which would mean training would need to resume as soon as possible. Mthethwa did give the various sporting bodies 14 days to write to government explaining how they would be able to return, while observing health and sanitation protocols.
Safa have seemed to err on the side of caution with regard to resuming football, while voices withing the league’s structures have appeared far more keen to get going, with the financial needs of getting the PSL up and running also coming into play
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