Head coach of Jamaica Premier League (JPL) club Molynes United, Calvert Fitzgerald, has expressed a sense of optimism following a recent announcement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who claimed the resumption of local sports was just over the horizon.

The majority of sporting activity across the island came to a screeching halt around last March, as the country battled to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus. With the exception of horse racing and a few track and field meets, they have for the most part remained that way to date.

One of the sports affected was the JPL, which was scrapped in March without a winner being declared.  Efforts to restart the league last November were curtailed after the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) failed to get approval from the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Following Holness’ announcement to parliament last week, which means the government should focus on restarting several sports under specific conditions, there is renewed optimism among local football’s stakeholders.

“It’s very important because we haven’t played any football since March,”

Fitzgerald said in a recent interview.

“We started training in the anticipation that we would have some football a few months ago but it didn’t materialize and that put a sort of damper on the players,”

he added.

“This is where a lot of the players earn a living from, so the fact that we are getting some positive news in terms of the starting of the league, it’s very exciting.”