Can I play football in lockdown?
Grassroots football has been suspended since lockdown in the UK on 5 January with fixtures and training prohibited.
While team sport has been scarce due to Covid-19, there is now an end in sight ahead of an update from Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight.
Johnson is set to announce his roadmap for Britain’s exit from the ongoing coronavirus-enforced lockdown.
READ MORE: Can I play golf in lockdown?
Grassroots players will likely be forced to show some patience when it comes to the reintroduction of football and team sports once lockdown measures have been eased.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said that outdoor sports would return on 29 March, the same date on which people will possibly be allowed to meet in groups of six or as two households.
Therefore, football at grassroots level may return then under certain guidelines in place to ensure there is no spike in coronavirus cases.
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“The simple way to look at this is that outdoor is safer and therefore we prioritise versus indoor,” Zahawi told LBC.
“Outdoor sports – tennis, golf, outdoor organised team sports, grassroots football – will go back on March 29.”
Current regulations permit outdoor exercise, but only by yourself, with members from the same household or one just one other person from another household.
The Prime Minister has been advised by Edinburgh University’s Professor Mark Woolhouse to permit outdoor activity immediately.
“This virus very rarely transmits outdoors. So, quite honestly, outdoor activities that don’t involve close physical contact could be adopted now,” Professor Woolhouse, whose work feeds into the Sage committee’s sub-group Spi-M, told the Observer.
“That is not an argument to say we can have crowds back at football matches. But sports involving small numbers of players or sports for children: they could start safely today.”
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