Phased Reopening For Football
The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) in our effort to responsibly affect a safe and healthy return to our football programs, continue to take guidance from the TCIG Ministry of Health with regard to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Plans to gradually reopen football came on the back of the government’s recent announcement that it would allow resumption of contact sports on July 13, 2020 as the country eases COVID-19 restrictions and continues to observe social distancing protocols. However, the reopening of football has been deferred to the latter part of July or early August, as there is a need for the TCIFA to comply with and satisfy health and safety mandates set out by the Ministry of Health.
A meeting (requested by the TCIFA) was recently held between the TCIFA and Environmental Health Department to discuss the particulars of initiating guidelines, protocols and safety measures prior to the resumption of football practices, leagues and tournaments. To protect the health of stakeholders and employees, a careful and considered approach is being adopted in relation to reopening of the facilities . As such, it will be done in a phased format. This will help to ensure that the appropriate safety measures and best practices are in place to limit risks to public health. The phased reopening will be based on what is best for our players and stakeholders in general, as well as our community as whole. In doing this the TCIFA remains guided by the epidemiological situation, and advice received from the Ministry of Health.
The TCIFA is currently putting in place the necessary tools, ordering the needed equipment and will have our staff undergo the mandated sanitization training under the auspices of the Ministry of Health as conditions precedent to the resumption of football. Reopening will initially see field training sessions for Junior and Senior National teams (both male and female) only. Such training sessions will respect social distancing protocols.
Meanwhile, a safe return-to-play model is being canvassed for the grassroots programmes. It is contemplated that this will likely commence later on in the year. At this stage of the nation’s response to COVID-19, the return of grassroots must be dealt with in an extremely careful manner given the significant number of participants involved.
President Sonia Fulford reflected, “the COVID-19 pandemic has forced significant changes to our 2020 Calendar, and has created a great deal of uncertainty in the world of football. Although we are excited about the strategic and cautious return of ‘the beautiful game’, we are still encouraging persons to stay home unless necessary, practice physical distancing, and avoid social gatherings. We look forward to sharing updates on the reopening of football, and thank everyone in advance for contributing to this development. We are hoping for a smooth and safe-as-possible transition back to the field.”