COVID-19+ CASES THROW PLAY-OFFS INTO TURMOIL

MBABANE – The regional football kick-off has been thrown into disarray following some teams having their players testing positive for COVID-19.

Ngwenya United, who are campaigning under the Hhohho Regional Football Association (HRFA), could not honour their second game in the play-offs against Young Lovers yesterday as they were reported to have as many as five players who tested positive for COVID-19. There are six teams campaigning in the play-offs and only two will be promoted to Super League. Ngwenya United had to play their first game against Bhunya Black Aces with nine players on Sunday and they lost the match 9-0. The world is currently on another surge of COVID-19 cases as there is the omicron coronavirus variant spreading rapidly.

Ngwenya United Secretary Zwelithini Maduna said they had requested to have their game yesterday postponed, but the request was declined by the HRFA and they forfeited the match, something that did not go down well with them. Maduna said all this started on Friday when they were supposed to play Bhunya Black Aces, but the match was postponed to Sunday due to heavy rains experienced on the day. “The teams were tested for COVID-19 on Friday and some players tested positive. On Sunday, we had some cases and we ended up having only nine players for the game. This got worse on Monday when five more of our players tested positive after the Sunday match. That forced us to request that HRFA postpone the Wednesday game, but they turned down our request. We could not risk by taking players to mix up with positive players at the game,” he said.

Risk

Maduna said they would be taking this matter up with the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) as they had been made to put the lives of their players at risk and had their game forfeited while they were not in a good shape to play. HRFA Secretary Nkosingiphile Shongwe said some of the teams were failing to adhere to the rules and regulations. He said all health issues are handled by the teams’ compliance officers and the competition’s COVID-19 compliance. “We are following the COVID-19 regulations and there are channels to be followed when teams have challenges. The health issues are handled by COVID-19 complaince officers and they were all trained by the football mother body ahead of the games. We expect them to follow all the reulations and we are doing all our means to make sure that everyone are safe and the regulations are followed,” he said.

Shongwe confirmed that there were positive cases reported, but all those players were put in isolation and they did not take part in the games. He said only players who had tested negative were allowed to play as per safety precautions. Meanwhile, some of the games were played. In northern Hhohho, Sun City played a 2-all draw against Sweet banana while Inter stars were beaten 2-4 by Nhlokomeni and it was only the Ngwenya United and Young Lovers match that was not played. The play-offs continue on Friday.

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