Muscat, April 3 - Oman’s football coaches, players and lovers expressed their dissatisfaction over the Oman Football Association (OFA) decision to cancel the domestic competitions of the 2020-2021 season due to Supreme Committee move to suspend the sporting activities over rapid rise of positive cases of COVID-19.
Many of top officials stated in social media on the cancellation of the footballing competitions including Sayyid Khalid bin Hamed al Busaidy, Chairman of Oman Olympic Committee (OOC), who tweeted: “the OFA should not have cancelled the Omantel League and the first division league. It was better to postpone the competitions and resume later after the situation eases as in the previous season. This would be good to maintain the football leagues and the national team. The remaining rounds of the league are few and could be completed ahead of the start of the next season.”
The head coach of Dhofar club, Rasheed Jaber, expressed in a explicit statement on twitter: ”Cancellation of Omantel League is a top failure in football management. Who will judge the excellence of those who worked hard to accomplish their desired targets and some of them were near to reach the objectives. Solving of the issue was postponement of the league, not termination of the league. Unstudied decisions will not serve football?”
Dr AbdulRahim al Droushi, reviewed the reasons for the OFA decision, on his twitter account. “I can see some weakness in OFA announcement to cancel the footballing competitions of the 2020-21 season. What is the clash of first division league clubs with the scheduled team’s external assignments and national team’s preparation plan? What is the point in cancelling the remaining weeks of the league as the matches are few and could finish within a month’s time.”
“What is the meaning of linking the Women’s Futsal League with the national team plan and scheduled overseas assignment? The international participation of the national team was affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Will the cancellation of 2020-21 league provide better technical preperation? Will we see exceptional cases for national team plans? Absence of the league and camps will make the players and officials idle and seriously affect the game in the country,” he added.
The former board member of OFA, Khalid al Rawas, tweeted that the OFA decision indicated weakness to find a proper solution. The board should have better management during the crises. The Supreme Committee decision was very clear on suspension of the sporting activities not cancellation. We expected OFA to take steps to solve the issues but was shocked with the outcome.”
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