A football match held at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium on Sunday between Harlem FC and Bath Estate FC was cut shut by police authorities due to non-compliance with COVID-19 regulations. A match which earlier held at the venue between Dublanc FC and We United ended 4-0, but the police also had a difficult time maintaining social distancing between the people.
Police authorities had in a new health and safety regulation ordered that no mass gathering of people should exceed 200. Sports officials had tried to maintain that number by allowing only players, vendors, security personnel, media workers, and sports officials to enter the stadium, and they had allowed only 80 spectators to watch the match so that the 200 limit could be maintained.
PRO of the Dominica Football Association (DFA), Gerald George, urged spectators to wear face masks and maintain six-feet distancing, but the spectactors were carried away by the excitement of the games and would not comply. Police officers threatened that the games would be stopped if spectators and other personnel at the stadium would not comply with safety and health protocols; and PRO George even offered soft drinks to those who did to encourage others, but without much success.
When DFA officials and police personnel could not get the spectators to sit far apart from one another, the authorities stopped the match 11 minutes into the games. Police officials ordered everyone to leave the sports stadium immediately and the DFA Recovery Knockout Cup Competition could no longer be permitted to continue. What DFA authorities will do for the remaining matches remains unknown at the moment.
This article is copyright © 2020 DOM767
