Last night, Boris Johnson addressed the nation and unveiled a staged plan for easing lockdown and restarting the economy but mentioned nothing on any proposed plans to re-start professional sports despite various media speculation.
Some Restrictions Eased
It was revealed some restrictions would be lifted including the restriction on the amount of exercise a person can have as of Wednesday this week. It was also revealed members from the same family can play sports with Golf clubs and tennis courts due to reopen. The PM said he would discuss further details on the plans in the coming days but as far as professional sports goes, it’s unclear whether the sports calendar will resume this year.Speculation that some elite sports athletes may resume training with a phased restriction on group training has been reported but media speculation hinted Premier League and UK racing may resume also. A meeting with Premier League Clubs is due to take place this week with a view to carry on league proceedings.
Proposed Plans To Protect Staff and Players
Football officials are due to meet Culture secretary Oliver Dowden this Thursday after the EFL and other sporting bodies put together proposed plans to protect staff and players while group training with testing and strict sanitary conditions upheld.The Racing Group are also looking at a date to resume the racing calendar and are meeting today to discuss what steps can be taken to ensure safety of all involved moving forward.COO of The British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) Richard Wayman told Sky Sports Racing, “I don’t think it would have been the right thing for us to come out and name a date, it would have been and arbitrary date. Our aim is to ensure when we are given the green light we’re ready to go.“ One of the worst things that could happen for racing or any sport is for it to resume then after weeks have to stop because we haven’t got it right. We’re really dependent on the work of Dr Jerry Hill the chief medical officer of the BHA who’s working with other sports to ensure when it does resume it does so in a safe way.”