The Premier Soccer League 2019/20 bubble – how it will work

South African football is back at last! The Premier Soccer League 2019/20 season will kick off again on August 8 with the Nedbank Cup semifinals, after almost five months without a ball being kicked because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nedbank Cup, the Absa Premiership and the Glad Africa Championship, and finally the promotion-relegation play-offs, will all be played out in a Biologically Safe Environment in Gauteng.

THE BUBBLE

Dr Irvin Khoza has told the PSL’s clubs they must pay their own way to get the season done. Pic: BackpagePix

All 32 PSL clubs (16 from the Absa Premiership and 16 from the GladAfrica Championship) will also stay in Gauteng, in a secure ‘bubble’ that Safa’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya says should be “99 percent” secure from the virus, if all procedures are followed properly.

Teams, with players and staff of up to 50, have been told by PSL chairman Dr Irvin Khoza that they must cover the costs of staying in the BSE, with Khoza indicating that the teams had, after all, been receiving their full monthly grants for the last four months without having any travel expenses.

MATCH VENUES

Rand Stadium, where Orlando Pirates train, is one of the match venues for the rest of the PSL 2019/20 season. Pic: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

The PSL have already named 14 training venues and 11 match venues in which the season will be played to a close.

The Gauteng training venues listed by the PSL are: Marks Park, Wanderers, St Stithians, Fourways High, Johannesburg Stadium, Ruimsig Stadium, Auckland Park Bunting (UJ), Chris Hani Stadium (UJ), Loftus Versveld, the University of Pretoria, Pildictch Stadium,TUT Stadium, Germiston Stadium and Vosloorus Stadium.

The match venues are: FNB Stadium, Orlando Stadium, Dobsonville Stadium, Rand Stadium, Makhulong Stadium, Ellis Park, Bidvest Stadium, Loftus Versveld Stadium, Lucas Moripe Stadium, University of Pretoria and Tsakane Stadium.

All training and match venues, as well as hotels for accomodation, must follow strict sanitisation protocols to ensure that they are COVID-19 free within the bubble.

COVID-19 TESTING

Dr Thulani Ngwenya is confident the BSE can be kept COVID-free. Pic: Mahlangu /BackpagePix

All players and staff have already been tested for COVID-19, and will be tested again in a “mini-bubble,” 48 hours before entering the main bubble. After this there will be no more testing for the virus.

“When we have tested them for the second time and they are free of the virus, we are confident they will now be in an area we can control, and when they go to be main bubble it will be COVID-free,” adds Ngwenya.

“Once they are in the bubble they will have been tested twice, and if there is not external force that can bring the virus in, there is no need to test. This is unlike in Europe, where they go home (after matches and training), that is why they test all the time.”

Anyone that leaves the bubble after entering will not be allowed back in, while those who do display any COVID-19 symptoms will be isolated.

“They are going to be isolated in another facility close to their hotels, as per the government recommendation for ten days, but others in that team will also have to be closely monitored,” adds Ngwenya.

THE SCHEDULE

Mamelodi Sundowns will be one of the first teams to restart, with a Nedbank Cup semifinal against Bidvest Wits. Pic:Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

Players of Sundowns, Wits, Baroka FC and Bloemfontein Celtic will be the first to arrive in the BSE, as they are the participants in the Nedbank Cup semifinals.

The rest of the PSL teams are then all expected to be in the BSE by August 11, when the Absa Premiership and GladAfrica Championship are set to resume.

Ngwenya, meanwhile, is also certain that the strict plans in place means that the PSL will not have the slip-ups encountered in Zambia, for example, where the resumption of the league has hit some problems.

“I have been speaking with colleagues in Botswana, where they didn’t even go down this route because of the cost, and in Zambia, when they went in hasty and were not cautious (enough). That is why we have been emphasising the process and if things are done properly we shouldn’t have a problem.”

As for the cost of this BSE, while Ngwenya could not give a total amount, he did mention that simply for the testing, you are looking at about 1700 per person per test.

In a squad of 50 players and staff, with two tests for each, that already amounts to a cost of R170 000 simply to complete all the necessary testing. It is an expensive business, but it outweighs the potential financial devastation caused by not finishing the season at all.

Khoza has previously indicated that without a finish, they would no longer be able to pay club’s their monthly grants, which could decimate some teams completely.

The PSL have yet to release a detailed fixture list, meanwhile, with some final details expected to be ironed out at a PSL Board of Governors meeting on Thursday.

Referees

Referee Victor Hlungwani. Pic: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

The PSL match officials are provided by Safa, and should be ready to go by the beginning of next month, even though there have three positive tests for COVID-19 since they have been brought into camp for testing ahead of the season restart.

“We are bringing the next batch of referees sometime this week, so they will all be together,” added Ngwenya.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.