The NPHET met on Thursday to discuss and advice the Government on phases three and four and Off the Ball say that they are now currently poised to lift restrictions. An announcement is expected this evening (Friday) as the Government are currently meeting to discuss what the best options are. Under the current rules which was set out in the GAA Guidelines, Safe Return to Gaelic Games Document, contact training is not permitted until July 20th at the earliest. However, with these current reports this is now going to be pushed forward.

Off the Ball state though that this won’t affect the GAA roadmap which was announced on June 5th. Under that roadmap club championship games cannot resume until July 31st at the earliest, this includes juvenile and adult games. In addition to this, inter-county training won’t be permitted until September 13th. This is to allow for the club championships to be played and completed. In addition, inter-county games won’t take place until October 17th. Off the Ball say that these “are not likely to change”. 

All sporting activity is set to get the green light to resume from 29 June under plans going to Cabinet this afternoon, RTÉ understands https://t.co/40gNnGUNXq

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 19, 2020

Meanwhile RTE also are reporting that all sporting activity is set to resume from June 29th. It is also expected hairdressers and barbers will be included in this when plans are revealed on Friday evening.

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BBC Sport report that over 1,000 players were tested in the third round of testing which then resulted in four positive tests coming back. The Premier League issued a statement confirmed the news that contact training will resume. They said, “Phase two of ‘Project Restart’ will see players “train as a group and engage in tackling while minimising unnecessary close contact”.

As of now 2,752 tests have been conducted with just the 12 positive tests. However, Premier League will players and staff will still have to be tested twice a week for the virus. Furthermore, there will also be an increase in capacity of testing per club from 50 up to 60 tests. Clubs started non contact training last week for the first time since March 13th. BBC say that clubs will meet on Thursday to discuss the use of neutral stadiums for games. It will also discuss on what will happen if the season is ended and voting on rebates for broadcasters.

This is a good step as it is a step closer to getting football back properly. The next stage after the contact stage will allow clubs to have 11v11 games and close contact training. However, the one question I would have to raise is, what happen when a player tests positive, does that mean the whole team have to quarantine, considering that player may have and will likely have been around team mates. However, may be the clubs have used GPS to track this in some way given the way technology is these days.

It is likely another few weeks away from full football and we may not see the Premier League finish. However, this is a step in the right direction.

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