SA Football Association (Safa) chief medical officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya has given assurance on the readiness of match officials ahead of the proposed resumption of the PSL.
Safa, who had delayed the restart of the league after announcing their match officials would only be ready by the first week of August, are now awaiting confirmation from the National Soccer League (NSL) on the proposed restart date.
The NSL have been keen on resuming the season and are expected to finally announce the restart date tomorrow after its Board of Governors (BoG) meeting.
Speaking to the media from the match officials’ camp yesterday in Southgate, south of Jozi, where they are currently undergoing tests and preparing to go into the bio bubble camp, Ngwenya said it’s all systems go.
Said Ngwenya: “We’re now awaiting confirmation on our proposed date of the 1st of August. Although we haven’t received confirmation, we have already started preparing as we know the games are going to happen and need to make sure we’re ready when that time comes.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where we have to rush things through and look disorganised. We’re confident the date will come. Hence the process has started.
“We know that teams have already started preparing. It’s realistic that we’ll resume on 1 August.
“Our officials will be ready to officiate. They’ll go into the bio bubble camp two days before the actual start date.”
Ngwenya also revealed that while Gauteng might not seem to be an ideal province for the bio bubble camp – given the fact that it’s the hot spot for the virus – Ngwenya believes there’ll be no issues regarding safety.
“Indeed, it’s true that perhaps if we (Safa) had been part of the decision-making team regarding where the camp should be, we would have emphasised what the Joint Liaison Committee document is saying.
“The document states that the area shouldn’t be an epicentre or hot spot for the virus. But what we’ve received from the NSL is that choosing for the venue was done before Gauteng became an epicentre.
“But the comfort that we get from the whole situation is that going to the biologically safe environment will eliminate the risks as the virus is not airborne. This is an area that is COVID-19-free, and those who are going in will have been tested twice.”
