Tuesday April 21, 2020
Toronto (HOL) - The Toronto Development Association of Youth (TODAY) group has announced that the annual Somali Week tournament held in Toronto will be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year's event would have marked the 30th anniversary of the Somali Week tournament and was scheduled to begin on July 9th. The TODAY group said that special preparations were made to mark the milestone.
"I would like to tell the Somali community that the annual Somali Week tournament will be cancelled this year as a result of the COVID virus. We have spoken with local officials who informed us that they will not issue a permit for the event," said Bashe Ali Bashe, the group's spokesperson.
The President of TODAY, Abdullahi Yusuf, said that as people are still being told to stay in isolation, the event would have been impossible to host.
"This disease has affected the entire planet, there have been many who have died from the virus and as result, it is not yet safe to gather in large groups for sport, party or prayer. Due to the current climate around the virus, we were forced to cancel the event.
TODAY board member Mukhtar Mohamed Ahmed (Mukthar Cuti) said that it's best to follow the direction of health officials and to take this virus seriously.
Somali Week was first held in Toronto back in the early ’90s by a group of Somali sportsmen who fled the civil war. The annual summer tournament hosted teams from Canada, USA, Europe and Australia for a chance to lift the coveted cup.