Industry Shorts: Covid Restrictions, Leicester City, Ukactive

After Prime Minister Boris Johson announced the government’s plans to end all coronavirus restrictions in England by 19th July, sport could see capacity crowds return this summer.

Making the announcement, the Prime Minister said that there would be no legal requirement to require vaccine passports in order to allow entry, though venues can make use of the NHS Vaccine Passport service if they want to.

The move means stadiums could be full as early as late July, after the Events Research Programme will see a full crowd at the finals of Wimbledon next weekend, as well as an increased capacity at Wembley for the semi-finals and final of UEFA EURO 2020.

All restrictions could be removed before England’s Test series against India in August, and the start of the football season later that month.

Leicester City have announced the launch of a new Spots Turf Academy, based at the club’s training facility in Seagrave, which aims to ‘inspire the next generation of sports turf students’, as well as supporting the ‘development, diversification and professionalisation’ of the sports turf industry.

The Academy will offer an elite training environment, with access to the latest technology and expertise to young students, but is also built around ‘four pillars’ – education and training, technical services, tournament support, and trials and research. 

Featuring a number of programmes ranging from short-courses to apprenticeships and degree-level internships, the Academy will seek to ‘add value’ to those in sports turf education with flexible delivery throughout the year, but it will also include the provision of expert advice to grassroots football pitches around the country. 

Tournament support will come in the form of highly skilled seasonal staff the STA will make available to venues hosting turf-based sporting events, while it will also focus on the ‘innovation and emerging technologies entering the sports turf industry’, as well as investigating the relationship between turf management and player performance. 

Ukactive and Community Leisure UK (CLUK) have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at formalising their relationship  to help the recovery of the leisure sector.

The pair have a long history of collaboration, but have become even more aligned over the past year. Ukactive says the MOU reflects the ‘growing relationship between the organisations and a shared vision to ensure the sustainability and growth of community leisure’.

They have both welcomed the reopening of the sport and leisure sector, however the pair ‘remain focussed on the ongoing survival and growth of community leisure in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic’, and will collaborate further following the pandemic.

Formula 1 and MotoGP events this year in Australia have both been called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Both events were set to take place in the northern hemisphere autumn, with the F1 Australian Grand Prix scheduled for November, and MotoGP’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix for October.

F1 says it has a ‘number of options’ to stage an alternative Grand Prix and deliver its 23-race calendar this year. MotoGP, meanwhile, has added another race at the Algarve Grand Prix, and brought the Malaysian Grand Prix forward a week in response.

Meanwhile, the England ODI cricket team has been forced to self-isolate after seven members of the squad tested positive for COVID-19.

The other members of the team – who have all been deemed close contacts – must now self-isolate, and as a result, the ECB was forced to name an entirely new team in order to fulfil the Royal London ODIs and the Vitality IT20s against Pakistan.

The news follows one positive test in the South Africa rugby team which is set to take on the British and Irish Lions in a Tour this summer. The Springboks squad is self-isolating as a result, and the team’s warm-up match against Georgia – due to take place on Friday – is in doubt.

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