NETBALL SOUTH AFRICA ACTIVITIES POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Netball South Africa (NSA) as custodians of netball in South Africa has been in constant communication with all the relevant parties and stakeholders within the netball fraternity to monitor the COVID-19 rate of infection both at district and provincial levels. An option to postpone planned activities has been on the table for a few days now.
Following the address by the President of the Republic of South Africa, the Honorable Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday 27th June 2021 and his confirmation of adjusting the lockdown level restrictions from level three (3) to level four (4) as of 28th June 2021for 14 days, Netball South Africa has also taken a decision to postpone all planned activities for the same period. A review will be done in line with government and all our partners and stakeholders.
“The decision to postpone all our planned events for now is one that is in line with government regulations, we need to respect what our government recommends and secondly, it is very important that we preserve the lives of all our players, coaches, umpires, administrators and support staff. We are living in unprecedented times and that means we need to allow ourselves to be very flexible to change as we never know what to expect from this pandemic,” said Cecilia Molokwane, Netball South Africa President.
Tournaments and activities that are immediately affected include the Twizza Netball Club Championships which was almost approaching the conclusion in some of the districts and the Telkom Junior Netball Championships which included the under 17s, 18’s and under 19’s. The latter has been officially postponed to October 2021.
“We are aware that we had just started getting back into the swing of things where netball is concerned, however it is very important that we put lives before the sport, we need to be mindful of the fact that we are dealing with an invisible pandemic, we need to do whatever we can to stay safe. I am hopeful that we will get to a point where sports people will get vaccinated, but for now we need to stay safe and play our part in dealing with this pandemic and flatten the curve,” concluded Molokwane.
Netball South Africa will always take the health and safety of its athletes, members and fellow citizens in consideration when planning activities. NSA will continue to monitor the infection rate and will advise and inform members along with our larger netball family on the status of its planned events accordingly. We urge our netball family and fellow South Africans remain vigilant and adhere to health protocols. Wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep a safe distance.
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