The Swiss Floorball Association’s Task Force decided at their meeting on Monday evening to extend the season break until the beginning of January 2021. The break includes all leagues, also the NLA and means that both the Swiss Cup and League Cup will be cancelled.
On 23rd of October, the Swiss Floorball Association announced that the championships in all leagues are suspended until the end of November 2020. From 29th October the Federal Council banned the contact sports in the amateur sector for an unlimited time. This does not consider children and youth under the age of 16 years. Unless the Canton has issued stricter requirements, they are allowed to train without restrictions, but competitions are not allowed at this level either.
Only the NLA teams are allowed to play games in addition to training, as they are classified as semi-professional leagues by the Federal Offices for Health (BAG) and Sport (BASPO) and Swiss Olympic. Therefore, at the Task Force meeting on Monday evening, it was checked whether the games in these two leagues should be resumed in the end of November. For the first time at the meeting there were athlete representatives present who were able to share the opinions of all NLA team captains. After examining the various options, the Swiss Floorball Association’s Task Force decided that the NLA women and men should start playing again at the beginning of January 2021.
Options for resume are in progress
– We perceived our responsibility in October and want to do so also now. The COVID-19 case numbers in Switzerland are stabilising, but they are still at a high level. We are therefore convinced that it is the right decision at the moment – even if we very much regret that the ball in floorball still needs to rest,, says Daniel Bareiss, the President of Swiss Floorball and continues:
– We very much hope that the situation will calm down in the next few days and weeks thanks to the tightened measures taken by the Federal Council and that we can resume playing in January.
The Swiss Floorball keeps the option open of holding NLA games in an event hall during the week between Christmas and New Year and thus resuming the championship at the end of December. This will now be examined in the next few weeks, taking into account the epidemiological development. Various scenarios are also being worked out as to how games can be resumed in January.
It is still open when all the other leagues will resume competitions, but definitely not before the beginning of January 2021. At the moment, the Federal Council does not allow competitions in these leagues for an unlimited period. Further resolutions by the Federation and the Cantons are being closely followed and incorporated into future decisions.
Swiss Cup and League Cup cancelled
The Task Force made another decision regarding the cup events. The technical commission of the Swiss Floorball Association had examined in the last few days how the Swiss Cup and the League Cup for men and women could be continued. Due to the interruption of the season and the ban on contact sports, it is practically impossible to include all remaining cup rounds in the spring 2021 game calendar. The Task Force has therefore decided to cancel both cup competitions, on the large and small fields in the 2020/21 season with immediate effect. The cup final on February 27th, 2021 in Bern will therefore not take place.
Source: Swiss Floorball Association
