Raab Says It Will Be Difficult For Amateur Sports To Return This Summer

The Coronavirus lockdown in the United Kingdom has seen all sport at all levels suspended with no concrete restart date in sight.

On BBC One’s Andrew Marr show, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was asked if there was any chance of smaller sporting clubs being able to play sport outside this summer, to which he said it would be;

“Very difficult because of the level and scale of interaction.

“We do want to look when it is safe and responsible at ways to allow more outdoors activities to take place, but again we have to have the evidence that it is a sure-footed step that does not allow coronavirus to get a grip back on the country.”

This may seem like doom and gloom however Raab did acknowledge the possibility of professional sport opening up once again;

“I think the professional sport may be different because of the scale of testing that they would be able to introduce.”

This announcement comes just after the government announced it had a series of meetings lined up to discuss how to help elite sports resume.

Related: Ireland Hoping To Re-Open Golf In Early May

It seems golf does have an advantage over other sports given the ability to play the game whilst social distancing. For example golf in parts of Canada and several other countries has re-opened recently.

In terms of the UK, golf could be one of the first sports to resume given the government said that it is “gathering evidence” on whether golf courses could safely re-open.

If and when golf will re-open here, what form will it take?

Well, prior to the UK lockdown being introduced, clubs were prioritising safety of players and staff by putting into place measures like rakes and ball washers being taken out of action and banning flags being touched. We are likely to see these types of measures remain in place.

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