Football - ‘Restart in June or scrap this season,’ says Delorie |04 May 2020

SFF competition director Clive Delorie

Clive Delorie, the director of competitions within the Seychelles Football Federation office has made a damning statement about the resumption of the football season where he wants it to restart at the latest in June and feels a delay will have serious consequences.

Speaking to Sports NATION, Mr Delorie said he is quite concerned about the resumption of football after revelation from a top sports official about the exit plan for sports after the lockdown has been eased this week, which might mean a longer period before permission is granted for football to kick off once again.

“We have to restart the season in early June so that we can complete our season by the end of July but if this does not happen and there is further delay, it will be obvious that the current season will have to be scraped altogether which will be sad for all involved as we are determined to complete the remainder of the season and were hoping teams could resume training this week and prepare for at least three weeks,” Mr Delorie explained to Sports NATION.

The SFF competition director was referring to comments made by National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Jean Larue on the requirements to allow sports to restart especially in regards to social distancing and other precautions such as the idea of playing matches behind closed doors which is being contemplated at the moment but of which he has a different view.

“I agree that we need to consider the health issues first and foremost but I feel that the easing of the lockdown measures shows that there is no community transmission of the coronavirus.

As a result I think we can allow spectators into the stadium as we have a big enough stadium where we can practice social distancing and if there is any problem or a recurrence of this disease, then we will have no objection to cancelling all matches and scraping the season,” claimed the competition director.

In its latest release, the department of health has announced that sports activities will be held behind closed doors.

Mr Delorie added that the federation has certain obligations in regards to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) but says that the local federation must gain approval from NSC in order to implement its action plan.

“We have been asked to hand our action plan on how we plan to complete our season by May 5 to Caf and we have already done this ground work but all depends on if we are given permission to restart in June or else we will have no choice but to cancel the season as we cannot prolong any further to restart as this will have a bearing on the 2020-2021 season,” Mr Delorie stated.

The SFF official said that there are 29 league matches to be completed in the Premier League with 19 in the other three divisions along with 15 matches in the SFF Cup including the final. He is already in discussion with the referee representative to ensure that the officials are present and ready to assist to complete the remaining matches in the envisaged time scale.

“We have prepared a provisional fixture where we plan to start on Wednesday June 3 with Premier League matches as well as in the other championships and there are possibilities of teams playing two matches per week, for example one match on Sunday and another on Wednesday. If we go along with this plan, we hope to complete the season by the end of July at the latest which will then allow teams with a 12-week break where we will start the 2020-2021 season in November 2020,” suggested Mr Delorie.

Mr Delorie also feels that with the season beginning after a three-month lay-off, it will definitely mean a shorter 2020-2021 season and he said that it will be up to the SFF executive committee to decide on the format of competition for next season though he would like to see the Airtel Cup become a prominent competition in the future as this season it was played in a very shortened form.

“Airtel Telecommunication Company has been a loyal sponsor over many years and maybe we should make the Airtel Cup a more important competition in the coming seasons, but it is a fact that next season will be much shorter. But for now, our focus must be to complete our two competitions where the league race is quite open and exciting and it would be very unfair to end the season abruptly and declare a team the champion,” exclaimed Mr Delorie.

The competition director also spoke of the need for consultation with all the teams in regards to the contract of players and as the local federation has received guidance from the world governing body (Fifa), it will be vital to get their consent especially in relation to their foreign players.

“Fifa has sent the guiding principles on the issue of contract where there is a general agreement that it should be extended until the end of the season but we will surely get all our clubs to sign a binding agreement to adhere to this condition though no clubs will be permitted to play with any other players other than their current registered ones,” related Mr Delorie to Sports NATION.

However, the competition director feels strongly that local clubs should not compete in Caf African club competitions next season because of safety reasons and the problem of travel which raises the risk of being infected with the COVID-19 virus which is still of concern on the African continent.

“We should also inform Caf that our clubs will not compete in any inter-club competitions quite early because if we don’t inform them now and then we just don’t participate, we will be fined. But if we make our position clear now, we face no sanctions,” Mr Delorie explained.

Nonetheless, Mr Delorie wants the SFF executive committee to make a ruling on the promotion and relegation issues in view of the fact that quite a number of teams have closed down namely Victoria City in the Premier League and Bwalo Boys, St Francis and MBU Veterans in the other divisions which has affected the fixtures.

“Football faces a crucial week as if we don’t get the necessary approval, it will be difficult to see the sport restarting so we are confident that some common sense will reign in our negotiations with the sports authority and we are also hoping that some teams do not take a negative stance and decide not to participate just because they don’t have to gain in the remaining matches as this will not be in the true spirit of sportsmanship and fair play,” Mr Delorie told Sports NATION in conclusion.

R. J-L.