Chronicle Editor
Sports Reporter
Zifa acting vice president Philemon Machana has confirmed that public health will be at the forefront of each and every decision which local football’s governing body make.
This comes hard on the heels of Sports Minister, Kirsty Coventry recent pronouncement of the impending return to action of local football beginning with the Premier Soccer League and the women’s league. However, Coventry reiterated that fans will not be allowed into stadia.
Football across the country is on hold and all leagues lost entire season’s season due to the global Coronavirus pandemic and Machana has insisted that Zifa are doing what they can to help out during these unprecedented times and to see local football return after more than a year of inactivity.
However, as football authorities and the Ministry through the Sports and Recreation Commission works towards football’s resumption, it remains to be seen what will happen with the regional and provincial leagues as well as area zone leagues, with all these competitions requiring teams to travel extensively, something which is particularly difficult at this time.
“Every decision that will be taken will have the public health as a basic and binding principle,” he remarked in an interview with Sunday News.
“We are particularly pleased to have managed to find a path shared with the SRC and the Sports Ministry, with the PSL, the regional leagues and the players.
“We are trying to help the PSL, regional leagues and clubs to resume the seasons.
“It’s not our first alternative to play the premier and women’s leagues first but the reasoning must take into consideration that the various competitions might resume at different times, depending on the governments’ decisions and recomendations.”
Machana added that the mother body hopes that all football leagues will be played this season.
“If the season is not played due to a government decree, that’s one thing. If there is the possibility to train and play but the season has been suspended and all health and safety precautions have been put in place then perhaps clubs may continue training unlike the past year or so.”
Machana added that while the association appreciates and applauds the rationale of staggering the resumption of local leagues by Government, there is a need to minimise the time differences between the different league resumptions.
“Since the football ecosystem is singular and each part of this ecosystem feeds off each other, there is an urgent need to synchronize our leagues from bottom to top. This cannot be over emphasized since the Premier League relies on lower divisions for relegation and promotion.
“Further more, we urge our Government to seriously consider prioritising vaccinating our athletes and officials, as Zifa we believe its better and we even contribute towards this effort if treasury is under financial pressure instead of placing these much needed and scarce funds towards expensive tests that our stakeholders will be paying for every fortnight as prescribed by the Standard Operating Procedures.
“We are thankful we have a listening State President, Ministry and stakeholders who considered the plea from football and granted the wish. We will endevour to be responsible and not abuse this goodwill from the highest office in the land,” Machana said.
Bongani Ndlovu