Frustration as grassroots competitive sport on hold for further two weeks

Apart from teams playing at the ‘elite’ level, only the fitness and non-contact training will continue to take place until November 27.

In a statement yesterday, the IFA said: “In light of yesterday’s decision by the Northern Ireland Executive to extend the ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown by two weeks, all football training and matches below elite level remain suspended until this extension is concluded.

“This includes Irish FA Foundation programmes, including Electric Ireland Shooting Stars and McDonald’s Fun Football, and protocols laid out in the Irish FA’s ‘A Return to the Everyday Game’ document remain suspended until the extension is concluded.”

In recent weeks, the IFA clarified how the suspension of competitive fixtures would impact on the activity at amateur sports clubs.

“We recognise that these regulations permit non-contact outdoor sporting events for up to 15 people from different households and some teams may wish to engage in non-football, fitness-only training. We would advise that, should clubs wish to do this, they do not exceed 15 persons per pitch and adhere to all government regulations,” the IFA said.

Many junior clubs have been able to carry on with a revised training programme in line with the current regulations.

Junior team coach and Covid officer at Bloomfield FC in east Belfast, Blaine McMillan, said the club’s anti-Covid transmission measures have been a success.

The club fields 12 junior teams across all age groups and three senior teams.

“We were able to run summer [football] camps with 100 kids for five weeks, Tuesday to Friday, from July until the second week in August, and over that period we had zero Covid cases,” Mr McMillan said.

Mr McMillan said that even though competitive fixtures are, as things stand, due to resume on November 27, a number of anti-Covid measures will still have to be put in place to minimise the risk of transmission.

In Portadown, the manager of Mid-Ulster League team Hanover FC said the lack of proper training was making it difficult for players retain their enthusiasm

“It has all just been a bit of a disaster” Dan Thornton said.

“I don’t know how much longer this can go on. In the last four weeks the boys haven’t seen a football – they have just been doing fitness work three times a week. Now we have another two weeks of this. I think we are now at a real tipping point.”

Mr Thornton also said there was confusion around what is permitted under the regulations.

In rugby, no Ulster Branch fixtures have taken place since October 3 due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, and Ulster Rugby’s Competitions Management Committee announced at the weekend they would not be organising any further fixtures for the remainder of the year, declaring the current season’s plan null and void.