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Coronavirus Update: Social clubs can open - but no team sport yet

Coronavirus Update: Social clubs can open - but no team sport yet

Media Team29 Jun 2020 - 12:03
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Further guidance issued but still a cautious approach needed

The recent coronavirus update from the Prime Minister set out further relaxation of lockdown rules in England from 4 July.

It is a complicated picture for team sport but we are seeing a gradual improvement in what can be done by sports clubs.

Playing competitively is of course the next significant milestone to reach. Training is on Saturday mornings for the first team squad and triallists but is still limited to groups of 6 people with social distancing, if not from the same household. We are a "village" team but we're not that close!

However, social clubs can open from this Saturday, 4 July so whilst clubs can’t play matches yet, they will be able to open their clubhouse bars and start generating some much-needed revenue. We at Oldland are considering the most practical and safe way in which to do this and will announce something as soon as we can as various measures will need to be put in place legally.

As a comparison to the football situation, the Prime Minister has confirmed that recreational cricket in England can’t re-start from 4 July, as had been expected, because the cricket ball is a ‘natural vector of disease.’ However in a press release, the ECB has responded by saying it will work with Government to try to facilitate the return of recreational cricket on or around 4 July ‘We are heartened that the Government has already permitted the return of other ball games, including tennis and basketball, and we are sure that our interpretations of the risks around ball transmission is consistent with those other games.

So what about football?

With the Premier League re-starting and Liverpool clinching their first title in 30 years, attention turns to the grassroots game.

The latest guidelines from the FA were from 15 June, the hope is that a September season can begin on time. Currently the announced rules though still don't permit physical contact or competitive matches. We hope that some clear guidance can follow in the near future on return dates. FA Cup matches are, for example, contractually due to be played on certain fixed dates - if we start in September does that reduce the number of teams accepted and start the tournament at a later qualifying round stage? Who knows?

There will be all kinds of developments in the coming weeks and months and we'll report them here.

It's been a long time, but safety is paramount, especially looking at the age of our committee! Stay safe everyone

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