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Grace Chingoma and Eddie Chikamhi
PREMIER Soccer League clubs will need to spend at least US$600 every week to test their players,and coaching staff should domestic football be given a greenlight to start this season.
It’s a cost which is beyond most of the local PSL clubs, many of whom are already struggling to stay afloat.
Local football is expected to return in September, pending authority being granted by the Government, that it is safe for the game to be played.
ZIFA and the Premier Soccer League medical committee have drawn up the national football Covid-19 framework, which is also in line with the Government and Ministry of Health regulations.
The ZIFA and PSL medical committee are working with the 27-page document and are expected to release the procedures to be followed by local teams.
Yesterday, the head of the medical committee, Edward Chagonda, said although they were yet to conclude their meetings, the cost involved in meeting Covid-19 safety measures is really huge.
The medical committee held zoom meetings with the relevant committees this week but will have further physical meetings next week before they issue out a comprehensive framework to clubs.
“The clubs would be required to test the players and officials, at least, once a week. In Europe, players are tested after every two days but we have recommended that here they test the players once a week,” said Chagonda.
”It is a basic recommendation, in line with international regulations, that players should be tested regularly.
“But, the cost involved is huge. A test kit goes for US$15 per player and each club has 30 players, that is the minimum cost per week and this procedure should be done weekly,” said Chagonda.
Premier Soccer League clubs are supposed to register 30 players which includes 25 senior and five junior players. Each team has an average of seven members to 10 members on the technical bench.
A proposal for a Covid-19 screening procedure from CAF says all players, referees and managers, who return to football, must be tested for COVID-19 in order to safeguard and strengthen the psychological confidence within the team and the environment.
The first test has to be performed 72 hours before resuming football activities, to prevent false negatives (asymptomatic carriers of the virus).
The second test has to be performed before the start of the first session.
Football participants must be tested at their club’s designated sites by team doctors in accordance with hygiene guidelines.
Players, officials, and media personnel will also be tested before and after every game played.
Apart from conducting a series of tests, clubs are also expected to make sanitary provisions that include ensuring the availability of hydro-alcoholic gels and hygienic equipment on all sites, arranging for quarantine of traveling teams, ensure the capacity to isolate suspected cases and employing a health officer in charge of coordinating all actions related to the pandemic. It remains to be seen if local clubs will be able to manage all that.
Dynamos chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze yesterday said there was need for collective efforts from all stakeholders to ensure the league starts without challenges in September.
“Stakeholders should work hand-in-hand if they are indeed interested in having the game played this year,” he said.
”The guidelines need to be followed strictly so that people’s health is not endangered.
“So, the big question is, are the sponsors, ZIFA and PSL ready to weigh in? Clubs on their own might find the exercise taxing since they are already struggling.
“Are the owners of the grounds also ready to chip in by disinfecting the stadia regularly and maintaining the highest sanitary standards?
“Thermometers, sanitisers and other provisions are needed and it needs to be budgeted for. There is also the prospect of playing behind closed doors or with controlled crowds.
“This means the clubs may not be able to get the little extra money that they used to get from the gates to augment their income.
”Imagine a game like the Harare Derby, or the Battle of Zimbabwe, having to be played behind closed doors when it’s supposed to be a big pay day?”
Chicken Inn secretary, Tavengwa Hara, said they were still waiting for the communication from ZIFA and PSL on the way forward.
“Of course, we have seen the guidelines from CAF but the application, obviously, won’t be universal.
“We are only able to talk about this after receiving the refined guidelines from ZIFA and PSL. Otherwise, we are ready to go and, of course, we need to respect the health guidelines.”
CAF have warned it will not be easy for clubs on the continent to meet the requirements.
“The resumption of training and matches will not be easy to manage, from the point of view of health security.
”A great challenge awaits the African federations, their professional leagues and their clubs, often unaccustomed to scrupulously respecting standards and procedures of this type.
“Especially since health security is not negotiable,” said CAF in their statement.
Online Reporter