Coronavirus: Final word on return of football in the hands of government - Jordaan

South African Football Association (Safa) president Dr Danny Jordaan has made it clear that both the country's FA and the PSL don't know when it will be possible for competitive football to return.

The season has been suspended for over two months now due to the coronavirus pandemic and while the two bodies are working around the clock to see get the ball rolling again, the government has made it clear that contact sport cannot return to action under Level 3 lockdown. 

According to Jordaan, only the government can give football the green light to resume. 

Jordaan further confirmed that the two stakeholders will have a meeting with the government, which will be represented by Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula, to discuss their plans and present the report by the task team which was adopted in last week's Joint Liaison Committee meeting. 

"I think the Minister made it clear that it is not possible to play at Level 3. There is still the question of social distancing, that and a lot of medical issues," said Jordaan in an interview with SA FM. 

"Basically, the same environment will prevail for the matches as well."

"However, it is dependent upon the government whenever we move out of Level 3 to Level 2 or Level 1 and we don't know when that will happen but for that reason, the meeting decided that we must engage with the Minister to get an understanding of what and how the government is viewing this matter.

"The final word is not in our hands but in the hands of our government. What we can do is to create the safest environment as possible and I can put that before the Ministers of Health, Sports and Transport because also the Minister of Transport has a key role in all of this.

"So, once we have that sort of engagement, we will have a better understanding from a government perspective."

Jordaan also touched based on amateur football - such as the ABC Motsepe League - highlighting that it would be extremely difficult for any of the amateur leagues to resume the season. 

The Safa boss believes amateur football can only return to action when the country reaches Level 1 of the lockdown regulations.  

"When you come to amateur football, the ABC Motsepe League for an example has 144 teams and the Sasol League 144 teams," he added. 

"So, it is going to be very difficult if not impossible to create a similar biological phase environment for amateur football. So, we have to wait for Level 1 and see what the position is.

"So, they can only return to the training provided there is a strict complaint on health and medical protocols."

The Joint Liaison Committee has already proposed another meeting with the Ministry of Sport and await a response on when the meeting will be before they can give directives to clubs to return.