KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Football’s local governing body says the coronavirus outbreak had brought Jamaica’s domestic and international programme to a “standstill”, and it was anxious to resume its itinerary once health authorities gave the all clear.
All domestic leagues were postponed recently following the announcement of reported cases of the COVID-19 virus here, and international fixtures were also scrapped as government implemented strict measures to halt the spread of the disease.
“It is affecting the football product itself because we are not playing any football, and our overseas assignments, we have to be putting them on hold, so it is affecting the football locally, and certainly at the international level,” said Jamaica Football Federation president, Michael Ricketts.
“Our girls, by now, would have been in Mexico preparing for the CONCACAF Under-17 World Cup qualifiers. We would be on our way now to look at some English-based players and then move over to Spain for our friendly match against Catalonia.”
International football has also been crippled by the outbreak, with every major professional league halted and Euro 2020 – the European Football Championship – rescheduled from June this year until next year.
Globally, over 304 000 cases have been reported with nearly 13 000 deaths resulting.
“We were having discussions for a high-profile game in June in New York, and that had to be put on hold,” Ricketts explained.
“This has set us back in a huge way, but it is a pandemic and it is affecting the entire world.”
Jamaica has so far reported 19 cases of COVID-19 and government on Friday said it would close its air and seaports in a further attempt to contain the spread.
Ricketts said the JFF would continue to monitor developments carefully
“We are definitely going to have some catching up to do and, of course, we will now have to hastily get some games after we get permission from our parent organisation, and from the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” he noted.
“For now, we are at a standstill and we just have to be very hopeful. I am pretty certain that, in a few days, the Government and Ministry of Health will be doing further assessments and will certainly advise us accordingly.”