BY FORTUNE MBELE
THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) will be filing an appeal to the Sport and Recreation (SRC) to resume the Chibuku Super Cup following the suspension of all sporting activities again last week.
The SRC banned all sporting activities but allowed the Warriors to travel to South Africa for the Cosafa Cup; cricket was also exempted for the Bangladesh tour and athletics for those preparing for the 2021 Paralympic and Olympic games.
Boxer Charles Manyuchi was also cleared to fight Ugandan Mahommed Sebyala in Masvingo.
PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said the league will be applying for a review on the ban and he is hopeful that the Chibuku Super Cup will 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; football 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. 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.
He said so far 95 players have already been inoculated for COVID-19.
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“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. 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,” Ndebele said.
The PSL chief said local authorities have also been supportive and after the resumption of the Chibuku Super Cup, the league will 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 the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League,” he said.
The league had tentatively been set to start this month.
When the SRC suspended sport again last week, they 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,” The SRC said.
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.
The Chibuku Super Cup resumed with some games during the week last week and the weekend games did not see the light of day following the suspension of sporting activities by the sports regulator.
Twitter: @FortuneMbele
