Credit: Anthony Hayton Photography

Return to Play: Update

We will be publishing resources and key information on the dedicated Return to Play page

In my last update I explained that I was working on guidance to enable clubs to train outdoors if they had access to the appropriate space. Despite producing this guidance and an associated risk template it has now become clear that we will not be in a position to sanction organised club training outdoors. Having explored the issues and taken further advice, including consultation with some members, there are a number of factors that have resulted in this decision:

People who play team sports can now meet to train together and do things like conditioning or fitness sessions but they must be in wholly separate groups of no more  than 6 and follow social distancing guidelines’

  • The restriction on numbers clearly presents significant issues for return to play (RTP). It in effect means that there can only be 4 people on the outdoors court/surface and that would include the trainer/coach. This would then permit a further 2 people to be available to support. A minimum of 2 are required for support and safety reasons – e.g. to assist with kitting up and down, chair transfer, to be available to right chairs that tip over, to provide First Aid or contact in an emergency, and to ensure COVID safety checks and requirements are in place
  • The publication of Sport England’s ‘Legal Risks & Duty of Care When Returning to Play’. This has been produced by the law firm ‘Sheridans’ specifically to cover the legal issues arising from RTP in light of COVID. It is a detailed document and sets out the duties of care placed on the GBWR Board, the practicalities around discharging that care and the insurance and risk assessment requirements. This Guidance reminds us that there is ‘a higher duty of care and standard of care’ owed by organisations such as GBWR for the adults at risk who form our playing community
  • The concern that GBWR is not in a position to risk assess individual playing surfaces, yet would be liable for any accident that resulted from teams playing on such surfaces.
  • The reality that weather considerations would mean that in any event there would be a limited period of time when outdoor play would be possible
  • The requirement to get appropriate insurance cover as current cover is limited to indoor activity which insurers understand to be the normal, appropriate and better risk mitigated environment to play
  • The Government decision not to go ahead with opening indoor training facilities at the current time due to the current COVID risk assessment

The Board understands that the decision not to pursue organised outdoor play will be a disappointment for those clubs that were looking forward to coming together for some sort of organised training. We are conscious that whilst we want to ensure we meet our duty of care commitments we also want to be able to facilitate members getting back to play as quickly as it is safe to do so. There is clearly a difficult balance between ensuring the appropriate measures to meet the necessary standard of care whilst not going so far as to make such measures a barrier to getting members back playing. It’s a judgement call and as individuals we will all have our own view as to when it is safe to return.

Our focus now is to continue to plan for getting our members back playing indoors as soon as government restrictions are lifted and we can be sure it is safe to do so. There is still a great deal to do and to put in place to make this happen and it makes sense for us to concentrate all of our efforts on achieving this. Please rest assured that myself and all at GBWR are working hard to ensure a  RTP as soon it is safe to do so. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and I will continue to keep you updated with any developments.

David Pond, Chief Executive