“Football must be played where football can be played”, said SAFA Cape Town President, Bennett Bailey, after an urgent meeting of the region’s 34 Local Football Associations to discuss the return-to-play strategy.

“Football must be played where football can be played,” said SAFA Cape Town President, Bennett Bailey, in response to the government decision to grant permission for the resumption of amateur football activities.

He emphasised, though, that for football matches to take place the COVID-19 Safety Protocols will need to be adhered to strictly, and organisers will need to get medical and competition compliance certificates from the Association.

On Tuesday evening SAFA Cape Town, one of the 52 regions that constitute SAFA National, hosted an urgent meeting of all its 34 Local Football Associations (LFAs) Competition Chairpersons and LFA COVID-19 Compliance Officers to discuss the return-to-play strategy for the region. 

Bailey said from now onwards the region will consult with various relevant stakeholders to ascertain the way forward. 

“There were tournaments that were scheduled to take place during this time of the year. We need to find out which ones are still going ahead and are complying with COVID-19 safety protocols. The City of Cape Town has committed to deal with facilities in terms of compliance and we need to deal with the competition side.”

Regarding the regional SAFA Third Division League, which the Regional Executive Committee had declared null and void a few months ago, Bailey said the REC would reconvene in the coming weeks to discuss the SAFA national’s directives that regulate the resumption of amateur football.

Among other things, the directives admit that in South Africa one of the challenges is that clubs and amateur football don’t have comprehensive medical data for athletes, because clubs do not have full time sports physicians to perform this task. 

“Everyone involved in the care of footballers should be aware of the prevention strategies for COVID-19, common symptoms for the disease, potential treatment options, and when it may be safe to return to athletic participation,” the directive states.

“We have thus adopted a graduated return to football strategy through which a deliberate and cautious approach will be taken. We need to avoid a rushed re-opening that could risk the spread of the virus, which would effectively put our beautiful game into serious disrepute.”

The full COVID-19 Health and Safety Directives for Amateur Football can be downloaded here.