AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), has made a U-turn and approved friendly matches to continue different venues, ahead of the resumption of Mainland Premier League matches on Saturday.
Late on Monday, the Federation suspended all friendlies as a response after it was verified that most of the venues which hosted the games failed to adhere to set up health guidelines of ensuring that fans sit one meter away from each other.
According to the official statement which was posted at the federation’s Instagram page and signed by TFF Media and Communication Officer, Clifford Ndimbo henceforth, teams should seek authorisation before staging friendly matches.
“No friendly matches will be allowed to proceed without the consent of TFF,” he said adding that the federation was to meet with club leaders of Simba, Young Africans, Azam FC, KMC and Transit Camp over this issue.
“On several occasions, TFF has been insisting on all teams to strictly follow the health guidelines recommend by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children in conjunction with the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports,” reads part of the statement.
This followed incidents of jam packed venues especially at the Simba Mo Arena on Monday evening at which the Msimbazi Reds faced KMC in a friendly match. Simba won 3-1.
Equally, the match between Young Africans and KMC at the much spacious National Stadium, on Sunday, witnessed fans violating one metre regulations as majority packed in one area. Yanga lost 3-0.
However, after the meeting with leaders of the five clubs yesterday, the TFF issued another statement, approving the friendly matches to continue.
The TFF however, banned Simba Mo Arena from hosting friendly matches, insisting that it has no facilities required.
Already, the government has warned that it will take stiff actions to owners of the venues that fail to adhere to health safety measures set in the fight against Covid -19 pandemic.
This warning came on Monday from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Art and Sports, Hassan Abbasi during his official tour at CCM Kirumba and Nyamagana Stadia in Mwanza.
He was there to inspect the venues readiness ahead of the league resumption on Saturday, after being postponed for almost 94 days due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
Abbasi said the government will not hesitate to close the venues or blocking fans from entering the venues if they (fans) fail to observe health safety regulations.
He also urged fans to change during this period when the world is battling Covid– 19, by observing social distancing and all other measures set to protect them from contracting the disease.
To show seriousness on the matter Abbasi fired warning to owners of Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam and Nangwanda Sijaona Stadium in Mtwara Region respectively, after hosting friendly games last week but failed to observe the health measures set by the government.
This was confirmed on Monday, by the Director of Sports in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Yusuph Singo, who said they have warned owners of two venues.
“We have given them warning letters following their failure to control football fans, who came to watch the friendly games as most of them could not observe social distance requirements,” he said.
He added that it is the obligation of the stadium owners to always control the fans inside the stadium as stated in the released guidelines from the government by ensuring that they have enough security personnel to enforce the policy.
In his feedback, Azam FC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Abdulkarim Amin conceded that they have received the warning letter to remind them to be on the frontline in controlling supporters.
“It is true that some of the fans did not adhere to the social distance regulation and when we tried to educate them, some of them resisted,” he said.
