COVID-19: Sports leagues, ActiveSG youth-centric programmes suspended
SINGAPORE — With the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) announcement that all sporting events must be cancelled or deferred until at least 30 April, the Singapore Premier League (SPL) and the Netball Super League (NSL) have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a media statement on Tuesday (24 March), the Football Association of Singapore confirmed the suspension of the SPL, along with all the clubs’ training sessions, with immediate effect.
The football league, which began in late February, had been played behind closed doors for the past few weeks.
Seventeen matches were scheduled to take place between 5 to 26 April, and the FAS said in its statement that it would announce details on the immediate future of FAS-sanctioned events after engaging the authorities and stakeholders.
NSL s-finals and final postponed
Similarly, the NSL had also been playing behind closed doors since it started in early February.
While the round-robin matches have been completed, the semi-finals and the final – which were originally scheduled for 28 March and 4 April respectively at Our Tampines Hub – have been postponed.
Netball Singapore chief executive Cyrus Medora told The Straits Times that its national opens team training sessions on Tuesdays will also be cancelled, and the association is considering only holding fitness training in small groups instead.
ActiveSG children, youth-centric programmes suspended until 7 April
Meanwhile, Sport Singapore have announced in an advisory to the sports fraternity that all ActiveSG children and youth-centric programmes will be suspended with immediate effect until 7 April, in order to minimise COVID-19 transmission risk in consideration of the efforts by schools.
According to The Straits Times, this would mean disruptions to ActiveSG’s curriculum at its Swim Safer assessment, Learn-to-Play programmes at ActiveSG sport centres, SportCares programmes, and 18 ActiveSG sports academies and clubs. The disruptions would affect about 5,000 children.
The suspension of events also extends to programmes held at SportSG-managed facilities like public stadiums and swimming pools, even if these programmes are not run by the national sport agency.
Companies which conduct sports classes and programmes on private premises or in schools should also not continue with their programmes, unless they can demonstrate how they can isolate their students.
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