SIFF to consider measures to contain the spread of coronavirus

The Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) Executive will have an emergency meeting on Monday 16 March to come up with measures to contain the likely spreading of the coronavirus in the country.

SIFF President, William Lai said his executive will convene for the meeting despite there is no confirmed case in Solomon Islands.

“We understand that we still don’t have any case of coronavirus in the country but it’s very important to have plans in place to contain the spread of the virus in our country,” he said.

“The coronavirus was officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on Wednesday and football has been hit hard around the world as matches are canceled or played behind closed doors.

“Recently the Oceania Football Confederation has postponed its competitions until May 6 so it is something that we would like to consider as well.

“We will try to see if the upcoming Youth Solomon Cup in April and Solomon Cup in June will go ahead or not.”

Football attracts mass gatherings as the country is known for its huge crowd during domestic competitions such as the Solomon Cup and international matches. Meanwhile, the Solomon Islands national team will not participate in the Tri-Nations in Fiji due to coronavirus.