It will be a difficult restart - Gardner

Portmore United coach, Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardner, says it will be very difficult to get players and teams back up to the level they were before the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) was suspended in March because of the outbreak coronavirus.

Like most RSPL teams, Gardner has kept his players active with programmes the club monitors online, and although players' match-fitness levels would have dropped due to the over three weeks of inactivity, he contends that it will still be on a level playing field, if the league resumes.

"If you take one week off football (training) you don't know the damage (to fitness) it can do, so training on a regular basis is important. It is normal that it is going to be difficult (to get back to the same level). Match fitness is always different from training and we haven't been able to get together to do anything for many weeks, so it will not be easy for us or any other team. But it is what it is, and this is something we must face. There is nothing we can do, so you have to roll with the punches," he said.

Fitness tests

"Like any other team, if the league resumes, when we get back together we just have to do certain things we need to do. We run will fitness tests and see where we are and what we need to do. It's not going to get back to the level we were at, so we will have to take it step by step."

Gardner, the former Reggae Boyz captain, is hopeful that the league will be completed this season, and said his team will be in the best possible condition if they are given the green light to resume playing.

"What is happening now is very difficult, it is not an easy task for the league to resume like that. We will have to put things into place and into perspective. I not saying my team will be fully prepared, as we will all be facing the same difficulties. The level won't be the same as it was before, so we just have to adapt and try get back to where we need to be with the best preparation going forward," he reasoned.

"It is sad to see so many lives being lost because of this pandemic, and life without football has been very difficult, like many other things, but we just have to get over this safely and then we can resume."