Taking it slow

Willie Marcial—SHERWIN VARDELEON

As quarantine rules are gradually eased, the PBA is also setting up its own guidelines and protocols as it hopes to salvage the league’s 45th season that was suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commissioner Willie Marcial said the league is now figuring out ways for ball clubs to return to practices and ultimately playing again late this year. The government has transitioned into modified enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in other parts of Metro Manila after a two-month lockdown during the ECQ.

Marcial said the PBA will lay out guidelines on the ball clubs’ return to practice under general community quarantine, which would allow gatherings for small groups.

“The government plans are returning to normal so that’s what the PBA is looking at,” Marcial said.

Before teams can go back to practice, however, Marcial stressed that teams must make sure their venues and equipment are disinfected.

The PBA chief also emphasized the need for COVID-19 testing for all teams and their personnel before they could even resume playing. Several countries have already resumed their basketball leagues, including Taiwan and South Korea, while Germany’s top-flight football league has also restarted its season.

All of these leagues required their players and staff to undergo COVID-19 testing.

The Bundesliga held several games on Saturday in Germany where safety protocols were enforced, such as players on the bench socially distancing themselves from one another while wearing face masks, ball boys disinfecting the balls every chance they got and coaches wishing each other the best before kickoff with elbow bumps instead of the customary handshakes.

“It’s to make sure that we have a clean bubble, and we have to protect that bubble,” Marcial said.

The developments provide a ray of hope for Marcial to also get the PBA back on track.

“If the situation improves, leading to the lifting of restrictions by August, then we can resume play in September,” Marcial said. The commissioner feels that all teams would need at least a month to get their players back in game shape.Asia’s pioneering professional cage league was only able to play one game of its 45th season in early March before Marcial, after meeting with the board of governors, suspended play indefinitely.

The league will make an announcement in August on whether it will play the rest of this season or scrap it altogether, with the best-case scenario being a one-conference season where only the Philippine Cup will be played.

Marcial said in the past that playing in fan-less venues would not be an option, that’s why the league needs the health situation in the country to improve as the government could then allow mass gatherings to be held again. INQ