Price sees long wait for football to resume

Humble Lion head coach, Andrew Price, believes that the resumption of most football leagues around the world may not happen until the end of this summer.

The coronavirus pandemic has halted leagues and tournaments globally since March. Although football’s world-governing body FIFA has recommended that leagues be suspended and then completed later, some countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Argentina have concluded their seasons. France became the latest nation to end their campaign last week, after French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe extended the ban on sporting events to September.

Price acknowledges the difficultly in finding a solution, but believes that, as things stand, resumption of play for the majority of countries may not be possible until the fall.

BALANCING ACT

“It’s a very thin line between the health of the people and wanting to continue the sport. So it’s a balancing act that has to be looked at very closely and carefully,” Price told The Sunday Gleaner. “I believe most of the countries throughout the FIFA member nations will have to wait until the end of summer before they even think about starting back, if they are going to start back so early.”

Locally, the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) is facing similar challenges as to when they can resume, as the number of positive cases has risen to more than 400 persons (432 as of Friday), resulting in eight deaths. Thirty-one persons have recovered. Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) vice-chairman Carvel Stewart, in an April 29 interview with The Gleaner, said that the season would be completed despite the decisions of other countries.

Price supports the leagues completing their seasons as well as pushing back the start of the following season if necessary.

“I know FIFA wants all the seasons to be completed. But even if it means that some of the 2020-21 seasons start a little later than they normally would have, you know most seasons start in September, maybe it could be pushed back to the end of October,” he said. “I believe that, with the limited amount of games left in the season, I think it should be completed.”

However, he says that any move to resume play will rely on how seriously countries are fighting the spread of the virus.

“It’s all dependent on how the country actually reacts to the pandemic [and] how controlled, how disciplined the citizens of each nation are,” he said. “The quicker we do that, the quicker we can get back to normalcy.”