Soccer games return to San Miguel de Allende

Published March 15, 2021 (sp)

Municipal and state health authorities and representatives of the different soccer leagues in San Miguel de Allende such as Liga Municipal de Futbol Soccer de San Miguel de Allende A.C.; Liga de Futbol Ignacio Allende; Liga de Futbol Canchita Los Rodriguez CR7; Liga de Veterans A.C. and Liga Femenil de Futbol defined the protocols for the reactivation of games in the municipality.

This after the City Council approved the Agreement that authorizes the increase of capacity and schedules in economic activities, where it establishes that public and private sports venues certified by Civil Protection will be able to open as of March 15.

Said protocols indicate that: soccer games will only be recreational (friendly), tournaments will not be allowed; there will be an access sanitary filter for temperature taking and application of antibacterial gel and in no case will people with a temperature higher than 37.5°C or with symptoms of acute respiratory infection be allowed access.

The schedule of the games will be authorized by the Municipal Sports Commission (COMUDE) and the Civil Protection Department, according to the schedule reported by each league; only players who are residents of San Miguel de Allende will be allowed to join the teams, who must prove that they have received the IMSS training “All about COVID-19 prevention”, which can be found at climss.imss.gob.mx.

The common areas must remain free of people, i.e., the attendance of the public will not be allowed; there must be a 15-minute period of time between each game to vacate the members of the previous team; a new game may not start if players from outside the next game remain inside the facilities. Underage players must show a written letter of responsibility from their parents or guardians and it is strictly forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages.

Players must arrive wearing their uniforms, in no case will be allowed to change clothes inside the facilities; only team members will be allowed to enter: eleven on the field and five for changes, including the goalkeeper. Bench players must wear masks at all times and keep a healthy distance of 1.5 meters and each player must carry their own liquids for hydration; they may not share bottles, thermoses or any other liquid container.

The captain of each team must give the referee a list of the members of his team indicating the temperature of each one of them and will be the one who will pay the referee before the start of the game; under no circumstances may the players crowd together to perform this activity.

The games will start at the scheduled time, if there is a delay the time of the game will be shortened; players and referees may only remove their masks during the game, and must keep it with their personal items; once the game is over they must put it back on again.

Observations to the referee must always be made with a minimum distance of 2 meters, failure to comply with this provision will result in a penalty to the player; no shots may be taken with a barrier, when a player receives a foul, it will be charged without barrier, but without a shot on goal.

It is strictly forbidden to spit in the matches, whoever does so will be sanctioned by expulsion, attendees will not be allowed to gather inside or outside the field at the beginning or end of the matches (talks, celebrations, taking pictures, etc.).

Lastly, players who confront each other during the match will be expelled, without prejudice to the sanction imposed by each sports league; however, such players may be substituted during the match with those who are on the bench.