ZIMBABWEAN football is once again a victim of Covid-19 restrictions and has been banned from action at a time the fans were beginning to enjoy their game and the players rediscovering themselves.

It is hard to believe how the authorities could come up with such an unfair decision to ban an industry that was 100% complying with Covid-19 regulations.

In fact, this was the time that football was expecting a certain percentage of fans to be allowed into the stadiums to watch their teams play, only to be struck by this lightning.

The football family is no longer sure what exactly they need to do to avoid these unnecessary bans after doing everything possible to ensure that the safety of the players and those close to them was guaranteed.

What is baffling is that the move to stop the Chibuku Super Cup comes when all the players, coaches, and officials, were vaccinated and moreso, were being tested of Covid-19 before each and every game.

What more; football was also being played in empty stadiums and the football family — to its credit — had come up with measures to ensure that the public watched the games in the comfort and safety of their homes.

Even the few officials and journalists who were being allowed in were vaccinated, and were also being tested before every game besides observing the protocols of wearing masks and social distancing.

The question is: How, under such a clean operating environment, did football contribute to the rise in new Covid-19 cases as implied by this ban?

What is clearly evident is that sport and football in particular is the only sector that has been hit hard by the new June 14 Covid-19 restrictions introduced by the government.

Yet the risk to the spread of

Covid-19 is minimal in football compared to the overcrowding in Zupco buses and kombis and in the queues that are widespread all over at banks and bus terminuses.

Also there are the mushika-shikas which are carrying eight or so people on board in vehicles designed to carry five people and for that matter, without social distancing and the drivers going about without face masks.

What our political leaders should probably have done was to point out the few areas — that is if there were any — where football needed to address rather than banning the sport altogether

Apart from the momentum of the Chibuku Super Cup which has been deflated, there are other international sporting events which have also been hit by this decision including the Zimbabwe Rugby team’s preparations for the 2021 Africa Cup.

The Africa Cup which is set for July in Tunisia will serve as a qualifier for the Rugby World Cup, but the Zimbabwean team is sitting at home while the rest of the continent is warming up for the contest.

The Cosafa Cup is also around the corner in South Africa and Zimbabwe risks either a no show or sending a rusty team that will be humiliated as happened to the team that went to Chan finals, and lost all its matches.

Boxer Charles Manyuchi too could lose his World Boxing Federation middleweight title should he fail to defend it against Uganda’s Mahomed Sebyala as agreed on July 3.

The WBF have already informed the Zimbabwean that they will strip him of the belt if their title defence demands are not met by the set date by which time it is not clear whether the government sport ban would have been lifted.

Yet, over the past two months, Zimbabwe has held two big boxing tournaments without Covid-19 incidents including the Stalin Mau Mau sponsored national tournament in May that featured 32 boxers and 16 fights.

It is clear that those in authority are not aware of the huge negative impact of their decision because our leaders have never taken sport seriously despite the good name and foreign currency it is bringing to the country

As we look forward to the future, it would be advisable for those in government to make consultations first or to go on the ground before making such uninformed decisions.

Just like what they did to what they termed “low risk sports” the authorities should swallow their pride and let, boxing, rugby, and the Chibuku Super Cup roll again. — because so far, sport has proved that it is not a contributory factor to the rise in new Covid-19 cases.

The Cosafa Cup is also around the corner in South Africa and Zimbabwe risks either a no show or sending a rusty team that will be humiliated as happened to the team that went to Chan nals, which lost all its matches.