Senior and junior Canberra sporting teams will be allowed to train in groups of 10 or fewer from Saturday in the first step towards restarting weekend competitions.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ACT government moved to eradicate confusion for sports, who felt they had been left in the lurch after coronavirus restrictions were eased last week.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Sport Minister Yvette Berry detailed what can and cannot be done when sports grounds are re-opened to the public. Some of the changes include:
- Doubles tennis (four players) can now go ahead after being limited singles (two players);
- Golf can resume groups of four after being restricted to groups of two;
- Body contact is not allowed, but sharing of balls or weights is OK. Physical distancing of 1.5 metres is still enforced;
- Junior sport teams can train, but parents and coaches are included in the maximum of 10 allowed to train;
- Queanbeyan clubs or teams from surrounding NSW regions teams will be eligible to use ACT sport facilities if bookings are made; but Canberra teams will get priority access;
- Clubs and associations will be responsible for enforcing the training limits and providing hand sanitiser.
The department of sport and recreation will host a meeting with all Canberra major sports on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the process and required return to play protocols before they are given clearance to resume training. Competition play is unlikely to start until July, while indoor sporting facility restrictions have not changed.
"Informal, outdoor, non-contact sport [can] restart for small groups of up to 10 people," Barr said.
"We will not see a return to community football competitions just yet. This is to allow for training, whether that is through community clubs, commercial providers, high performance training programs or individual activities.
"Should this first first phase be a success, further restrictions can be eased in the coming months. What we're asking is for Canberrans to be sensible.
Sporting organisations were confused after the government announced gatherings of 10 people were permitted from the end of last week, but Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said organised sports were still limited to two people.
The mixed messages prompted a meeting on Tuesday before the sport and recreation announcement on Wednesday.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
The government will honour existing bookings for sporting grounds, which will be reopened from Monday. Bookings are essential for organised activities to go ahead, but change rooms, club rooms, kitchens or canteens will remain closed.
Police were called to a rugby training session in Weetangera last weekend after the group exceeded the 10-person limit.
"Sport organisations are asked to prepare a return to play COVID-safe environment - a framework to support the resumption of sporting activity in their specific context," Berry said.
"This should provide clear and consistent guidelines for participants and coaches, as well as volunteers, while also providing confidence to participants that their activity is being conducted safely.
"... We're going to ask Canberrans to use their commonsense. We're all at a point now where we know what needs to be done, and we're going to rely on our community to do the right thing.
"It's not our intention to go out and used a big stick on people who might be making a mistake. Everyone can hold each other to account now."
Clubs can split players into groups of 10 and have several of those groups training at the once facility, but only if there is enough space to observe the 1.5 metres social distancing rules.
School sports in groups of 10 will start when students return, but any cross-school competitions will be prohibited.
"It's really important that we can manage this first phase of relaxing restrictions effectively. If we do this well, then we can move to the next step," Barr said. "It just takes one person to slip up and they can infect others."
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. If you're looking to stay up to date on COVID-19, you can also sign up for our twice-daily digest here.