News / National
PSL launches vaccination drive
06 Jul 2021 at 10:29hrs | Views
THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) will make an aggressive push for player vaccinations in order to entice the government to lift the ban on the game.
On Friday, the Chibuku Super Cup was thrown into disarray after government imposed a blanket ban on sport, with the exception of a few international events that had already been lined up.
A few days before, football had been given a special waiver to resume, but the devastating news came after just after two matches had been played in Group 1.
PSL will launch an appeal for them to be allowed to carry forward with their tournament.
PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said the league would be applying for a review on the ban and said he was hopeful that the Chibuku Super Cup would be allowed to resume.
"We will be applying for a review on the suspension. We hope that we will be allowed to resume. We appreciate the power of football, it is a popular sport. Many people think of it as just a game but we
take a lead to support all government and World Health Organisation (WHO) efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
"Once we resume, we will continue to encourage people to follow protocols and also encourage people to vaccinate, that is all players and officials. We encourage that they are vaccinated by the end of the week."
Ndebele said so far, 95% players had already been inoculated.
"We want to use football as an example and we are proud that despite the stop-starts, we are following protocols. We isolate cases that are positive. Maybe we are second to frontline workers in terms of compliance," he said.
"We are working with 30 medical doctors, 18 club doctors, and nine doctors (COVID-19 compliance officers) that are spread across the Chibuku Super Cup venues. These are directly involved in the fight against the pandemic and we are confident we will resume soon."
The PSL chief said local authorities had also been supportive and after the resumption of the Chibuku Super Cup, the league would be making another application to start the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship. "Local authorities have supported us in making sure that we comply. We are confident we will finish the Chibuku Super Cup, after which very soon we will be lodging another application for the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League," he said. The league had tentatively been set to start this month.
When the Sports and Recreation Commission suspended sport again last week, it said: "For the avoidance of doubt, this suspension extends to the Zifa-PSL [Zimbabwe Football Association-Premier Soccer League] tournament for the Chibuku Super Cup and all sports previously classified as low risk. All national sports associations, clubs, gyms, and related stakeholders should abide by this suspension without exception."
When the Chibuku Super Cup resumed, two matches were postponed after some players and officials from the clubs involved tested positive for COVID-19.
The PSL said those affected were isolated in line with the government and WHO guidelines on the pandemic.
On Friday, the Chibuku Super Cup was thrown into disarray after government imposed a blanket ban on sport, with the exception of a few international events that had already been lined up.
A few days before, football had been given a special waiver to resume, but the devastating news came after just after two matches had been played in Group 1.
PSL will launch an appeal for them to be allowed to carry forward with their tournament.
PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said the league would be applying for a review on the ban and said he was hopeful that the Chibuku Super Cup would be allowed to resume.
"We will be applying for a review on the suspension. We hope that we will be allowed to resume. We appreciate the power of football, it is a popular sport. Many people think of it as just a game but we
take a lead to support all government and World Health Organisation (WHO) efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
"Once we resume, we will continue to encourage people to follow protocols and also encourage people to vaccinate, that is all players and officials. We encourage that they are vaccinated by the end of the week."
"We want to use football as an example and we are proud that despite the stop-starts, we are following protocols. We isolate cases that are positive. Maybe we are second to frontline workers in terms of compliance," he said.
"We are working with 30 medical doctors, 18 club doctors, and nine doctors (COVID-19 compliance officers) that are spread across the Chibuku Super Cup venues. These are directly involved in the fight against the pandemic and we are confident we will resume soon."
The PSL chief said local authorities had also been supportive and after the resumption of the Chibuku Super Cup, the league would be making another application to start the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship. "Local authorities have supported us in making sure that we comply. We are confident we will finish the Chibuku Super Cup, after which very soon we will be lodging another application for the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League," he said. The league had tentatively been set to start this month.
When the Sports and Recreation Commission suspended sport again last week, it said: "For the avoidance of doubt, this suspension extends to the Zifa-PSL [Zimbabwe Football Association-Premier Soccer League] tournament for the Chibuku Super Cup and all sports previously classified as low risk. All national sports associations, clubs, gyms, and related stakeholders should abide by this suspension without exception."
When the Chibuku Super Cup resumed, two matches were postponed after some players and officials from the clubs involved tested positive for COVID-19.
The PSL said those affected were isolated in line with the government and WHO guidelines on the pandemic.
Source - newsday
