Namibia Rugby Union scrap remainder of rugby season

The Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) on Monday scrapped the remainder of the domestic rugby season due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In late June, the Namibian government approved an early August return to training for rugby as the Covid-19 infections remained relatively low in the Southern African nation. On July 23, the total Covid-19 cases stood at 1522, but since then the numbers have more than doubled with the total infections currently standing at 3101.

The NRU said in a statement: “Following consultation and deliberation with clubs on the 6th August 2020 at the NRU premises, the president and the board were mandated to deal with current decision to play rugby under stage 4 of the Covid-19 rules, in line with the NRU constitution, in particular, paragraph 30 A (1). This was considered by the board and it was then decided to cancel all rugby activities for the remainder of 2020 season.”

“This was done after risk assessment and readiness was concluded, taking into consideration the preventative measures and requirement, as well as the worrying increase of Covid-19 cases in all corners of our country. The NRU takes the health and wellbeing of athletes as well as supporters very seriously.

“In addition to the above decision, the board sent out a notice for the extraordinary general meeting for a specific purpose to fill a number of critical and importance vacancies at the scheduled meeting for 22 August 2020.”

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo