The soccer ball has stopped rolling in Liberia due to the recent outbreak of the ebola virus.
Liberia’s Football Association has indefinitely suspended all soccer activities in an effort to combat the spread of the ebola virus, according to the BBC.
“Football being a contact sport — people are sweating — they do contact each other, and that could result in contracting the disease,” LFA president Musa Hassan Bility said. “It also has to do with the fans because whenever there is a game, a lot of people come together and we want to discourage gathering at this point.”
The United Nations’ World Health Organization says there have been 1,201 reported cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014. The virus has claimed at least 672 lives in West Africa.
Liberia closed most of its border crossings and has launched a public awareness campaign to combat the spread of the virus.
The LFC also wrote a letter to FIFA, asking it to postpone two visits by FIFA dignitaries — including president Sepp Blatter — that were scheduled for August and September.
“We’ve asked Fifa to suspend both because we do not want the life of the Fifa president to be exposed to this disease,” Bility added.
Usually, the soccer world never stops turning and rarely ever sleeps. Events in Liberia are proving that the old saying isn’t always the case.
Photo via Twitter/@Reuters
