When the National Soccer League (NSL) left the 2019/20 season hung in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak, uncertainty reigned supreme concerning how the remaining games were to be completed in South Africa.

Along with many economic activities, domestic football ground to a halt in the country. As a matter of fact, all sports code were suspended at that stage. Later, some sporting festivities were canceled entirely as the devastating virus permeated all spheres of the globe.

Let the games begin

In SA, professional football which consists of Premier Soccer League (PSL) divisions under NSL, will resume play on August 8, 2020.

This decision was made by the NSL’s Board of Governors and announced by the its Chairman Dr. Irvin Khoza on Monday. It did not reveal the dates and venues for all the fixtures.

Nevertheless, it said the restart will focus, first and foremost, on the Nedbank Cup semi-finals.

It is better to see off the season in the field of play than in the boardroom, Dr. Khoza remarked. He obliterated the views of calling the 2019/20 off in light of the surging coronavirus cases and deaths in SA.

The bubble

All the 32 clubs involving the Absa Premiership (elite) and GladAfrica Championship (2nd stream) leagues will be hosted in a central location: Gauteng. The province was handpicked by the PSL because of the sufficient infrastructure already in place.

However, Gauteng happens to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus that is stifling the whole world. All its municipalities or metros have been declared Covid-19 hotspots by the government (health) authorities.

Even though the epidemic is menacingly on the rise, the football show will go on. The virus will be with us for some time, the Minister of Health (in SA) Dr Zweli Mkhize said a while ago. As one of the top countries with high infection rate, he added, we must begin to adjust and leave with it.

Far afield

There are football leagues in the world that folded prematurely. Ligue 1 in France and the Dutch League (Eredivisie) in the Netherlands in Europe come to mind.

As reported by AS on April 24:

“The 2019/20 Dutch league season is over as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Eredivisie ends with no champions, no teams being relegated or promoted.”

Ligue 1 was abandoned the same way except that Paris St-Germain were awarded the title on a “point-per-game basis, while Lorient have been crowned Ligue 2 champions on the same principle,” according to the BBC April 30 report.

This principle left French some clubs furious. So much so the premature ending of the 2019/20 season by the French football governing body became the subject of the courts.

On June 9, Associated Press posted:

“France’s highest administrative court on Tuesday upheld the decision to cancel the rest of the domestic soccer season amid the coronavirus pandemic…“

However, other major European leagues opted to stay the course and finish theirs despite the threat of Covid-19: Italy’s Serie A, Spanish’s La Liga, England’s Premier League resumed without major hurdles. The latter wrapped up the past weekend with Liverpool under the stewardship of Jürgen Klopp coronated the champions.

Bundesliga in Germany led the way among the highly-rated leagues in the world by being the first to get the ball rolling again.

No “fan fests”

In all these unpredictable coronavirus times, major events have been suspended or called off.

However, in South Africa, football will make its comeback to the sports grounds after over a 4-month break. Although there is a bit of excitement in the air to settle the title challenge on the turf, fans will not cheer their heroes as they usually do sitting in the stands. 

This is so because all the remaining fixtures are going to be played behind closed doors. A rarity. For this reason, no spectators will be allowed but officials and stakeholders such as the media to broadcast the matches.

That means supporters will have to stay glued on television screens and/or plugged on the airwaves and egg on their lovely clubs from afar.

Mitigation of Covid-19 incidents

For they [fans] are prohibited in the stadiums. The health regulations and protocols are deliberately set out to limit the spread of the virus in any setting by minimizing crowds and mass gatherings.

Dr. Khoza emphasized that:

“the remained (sic) of the season will be played in a biological safe environment (BSE).”

Such are the stringent regulatory guidelines as stipulated by the World Health Organizations and domesticated in different countries and specified in various sports federations in order to fend off the hideous pandemic.

In less than two weeks time, the beautiful games face off yet again.