• The Premier Soccer League's plans for the return of football have been hit by several setbacks as we reach day 100 without live action.
• Positive results of club staff members and a player have recently been revealed with the country entering its peak rate of Covid-19 cases.
• The PSL, who are in dialogue with the Department of Health, are yet to give the go-ahead for teams to return to training.

All football-related activities in South Africa ground to a halt on 15 March due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, on Tuesday, 100 days have passed since any live Premier Soccer League (PSL) action.

The South African Department of Health on 22 June announced that from a total of 25 116 tests conducted over the preceding 24 hours, there were 4 289 new Covid-19 cases with 61 deaths.

That takes the total number of infections in the country past the 100 000 mark to 101 590 by the end of Monday.

Despite projections that the accelerating rate of new infections will only reach its peak in mid-July to September, restrictions have been eased with the country now on day 88 of a national lockdown.

The South African Football Association (SAFA), alongside the PSL, have set out in an effort to facilitate the safe return of local soccer, but it is beginning to look an increasingly tall order. 

A Joint Liaison Committee (JLC) including members from both football associations was assembled on 12 May with the task of formulating protocols for the safe return of football.

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa then gave the green light for non-contact and contact sport to resume training under Level 3 lockdown restrictions on 1 June, while welcoming organisations to submit their safety protocols.

President Cyril Ramaphosa then announced the further easing of Level 3 regulations on 17 June with different sporting organisations including Cricket South Africa, SARU and SAFA working closely with Mthethwa in recent weeks in an effort to return to training and play.

Several setbacks

There has, however, been a delay in what was expected to be an imminent return to training for PSL clubs with the Sunday Times revealing that this was due to the a continuing dialogue between the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture with the Department of Health.

"The matter right now is in the hands of the Department of Health for them to make the decision," SAFA head of medical, Thulani Ngwenya told Sport24.

"Minister Mthethwa welcomed our proposals but it is not up to him to make the final decision so it is with the National Coronavirus Command Council and we are waiting on government approval."

Ngwenya over the weekend was also appointed as the Head Compliance Officer with all teams - who are required to appoint their own compliance official to oversee health protocols - reporting to him.

Controversy has also been caused by accusations and witness accounts of Eastern Cape-based Absa Premiership side Chippa United breaking lockdown regulations by holding team training sessions.

Members of the public claim to have seen Chippa United holding training sessions on a beach close to their training base.

Both the PSL and SAFA have said that they were unaware of the incident and that they are investigating a matter that they regard as a serious transgression.

Chippa, meanwhile, have begun their own internal investigation into the matter.

"I am going to investigate this matter internally and whoever is found to have broken the rules and regulations will be brought to book," said Chippa chief operating officer Lukhanyo Mzinzi.

Sport24 also has it on good authority from several sources that the Chilli Boys are not the only club holding team training sessions with a club from Cape Town and several from Johannesburg all understood to be doing the same.

Stellenbosch FC on Tuesday also confirmed that three staff members had tested positive for Covid-19 after undergoing testing ahead of a return to training.

Bloemfontein Celtic, on Monday, revealed that midfielder Given Mashikinya has tested positive and will be in isolation for the next 14 days.

"Testing is essential and the positive test results do not come as a surprise," Ngwenya added.

"We may see many positive results in line with the curve seen in the rest of the population.

"This allows us to deal with symptom management for players who test positive who would then be cleared for training once negative.

"On teams training without permission, I'm not sure why they would do this as they need the necessary approval to do so. It's key to first do the necessary testing before any training can resume."

One of the major challenges for the safe return of the PSL is the fact that the rate of infection in South Africa is yet to reach its peak, but already players and club officials are testing positive. 

Although the rate of deaths in South Africa is significantly lower in comparison to European nations, live football has returned in countries like Germany, Spain, Italy and England, but well after those nations passed their infection peaks.

A pivotal factor in the safe return of football that cannot be understated - and needs to be a priority - is the transparent announcing of information on test results.

The PSL has confirmed to Sport24 that it would indeed be making all the necessary announcements once they receive all the testing information.

The English Premier League provide consistent updates after each round of testing with clubs all required to undergo two tests weekly. This information, the Premier League says, is "for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency".

Premier League test results

Round 1: 17-18 May - 748 tested, with six testing positive from three clubs.
Round 2: 19-22 May - 996 tested, with two testing positive from two clubs.
Round 3: 25-26 May - 1,008 tested, with four testing positive from two clubs.
Round 4: 28-29 May - 1,130 tested, with zero testing positive.
Round 5: 1-2 June - 1,197 tested, with one testing positive.
Round 6: 4-5 June - 1,195 tested, with zero testing positive.
Round 7: 8-9 June - 1,213 tested, with one testing positive.
Round 8: 11-12 June - 1,200 tested, with two testing positive from two clubs.
Round 9: 15-16 June - 1,541 tested, with one testing positive.

The worrying stat for the PSL is that in Round 1 of Premier League testing, there were six positive results from 748 tests. Three positive tests came from just one club in the Absa Premiership.

The PSL has so far been ambiguous on when teams will be allowed to return to training, while there are also unresolved matters to be ironed in terms of the hosting of competitive matches.

Details to be finalised include a central venue or either several venues to host teams in a location to host games along with the necessary logistics.

The practicality of those venues to complying with hygiene and social distancing measures would also need to be determined.

An official PSL document titled: NSL Directive on Return to Training further outline the safety requirements to resume training:

• Teams and all participants will, prior to commencing training, provide proof of Covid-19 testing: one test at least 2-7 days prior to the resumption of training;
• Deep sanitising of the facilities must be done prior to the resumption of training;
• All change rooms and entrances must display reinforcing information for players and staff - this should be done to remind people regarding physical distancing, respiratory and hand hygiene - these are available on the DOH and NICD websites.