KBS to apply to govt to allow limited spectators into stadium

PUTRAJAYA, March 1  -- The 2021 Malaysia League (M-League) season is expected to be lively again with the presence of spectators in the stadium as the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) is currently in the process of getting approval from the government.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican assured that the application for the presence of supporters in the stadium will be made two months after M-League competition using a sports bubble model which runs smoothly.

He said KBS needed time to give the National Security Council (MKN) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) the confidence that the decision to allow supporters into the stadium would not affect the sports bubble dedicated to players and team officials.

"In a month or two I would bring this matter to the MKN for consideration because it also depends entirely on the MKN’s announcement on the latest situation as well as developments during the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

"The proposal is to get the approval to enable football to be attended by spectators with a strict SOP," he told a press conference at the launch of the 2021 M-League here today.

Efforts to allow a limited number of spectators into the stadium without posing any risk to the sports bubble model is one of KBS' main goals in revitalising the national sports industry, he said.

Meanwhile, players, M-League team officials and national athletes who are not involved in the Olympics and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, are expected to take the COVID-19 vaccination after the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

He said that in the context of sports, priority is now given to 264 athletes and officials in the mission to qualify for the Olympics and Paralympic Games to take the vaccination starting in April.

"I haven’t taken the vaccine myself and will take it with athletes in April, because with the limited supply, priority is given to those who have been listed such as the frontliners," he said.

A total of 264 athletes and officers were the first group out of a total of 4,000 athletes and officers on the KBS list to be given priority as vaccine recipients in the first phase of the COVID-19 National Immunisation Programme.

-- BERNAMA