Strict guidelines will have to be adhered to. Players, match officials and contractors will be tested before entering the venue. Moreover,  they will be kept in isolation until results of those tests were known. BBC Report that players will have to give a negative test in order to fulfil the event. The main reason behind the choice of venue is because there is on site accomodation. This of course means the 64 players who are competing in the tournament could be contained there if something was to occur.

BBC Report that six other measures are in place to ensure the health and safety of all players, staff and officials. Social distancing methods will be in place right across the venue. Furthermore, players will be seated at least 2m apart at games, while handshakes will not be permitted. In addition, players will be required to use hand sanitiser before matches. Referees will also try to keep the 2m distance between themselves and players where possible. There will no access for guests of players and finally first aid personnel will be onsite at all times. The prize for the winner of the tournament is £30,000. The total prize fund is £200,000. . The winner will secure a place in the Champion of Champions in November also.

Barry Hearn has said that player safety will be a top priority when snooker returns. He said, “Players who have any doubts about their own welfare can rest assured that all precautions are being taken,”. Hearn continued,”I am confident that there is no other major sport which can meet health and safety criteria on isolation and social distancing as stringently as snooker can, so we are able to return more quickly than others.”

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However, England chief medical officer has stated that any return should be slow and measured. Premier League chiefs met on Monday to discuss Project Restart and a return on June 12th is looking possible providing games are behind closed doors. Dowden said, “We all agreed that we will only go ahead if it is safe to do so and the health and welfare of players, coaches and staff comes first,”. He continued, “It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalise the detail of their plans, and there is combined goodwill to achieve this for their fans, the football community and the nation as a whole”.

Not much training has been done under the current restrictions. The BBC report that Premier League bosses hope that team training can be conducted once strict guidelines are adhered to next week. John Van Tam Deputy Chief Medical Officer said on this, “There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing”.

Brighton soccer manager Graham Potter however is still wary of a return to playing/training. This comes after the news that three Brighton players tested positive for Covid 19. He said “It’s a complex situation”. He said it’s difficult to call from one day to next on what will happen. “It will be as safe as it is made to be. The challenge will be when [we have] contact, larger groups and different teams. We need to see where we are on Monday and then Tuesday he said”.

In other footballing news clubs will now be allowed to agree short term contracts. This is on players whose deals run out on June 30th. BBC report that clubs now have until June 23rd to agree extensions.

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A provisional program released means the 2000 guineas will take place on June 6th. Furthermore, the 1000 guineas will take place on June 7th. Royal Ascot still remains pencilled in from June 16th to 20th. However, the exact schedule is likely to change, while the Queen is also not expected to attend the event for the first time in 68 years. A British Horse Racing spokesperson told BBC Sport, “There will be some changes to the order of races at Royal Ascot, which will be confirmed as soon as possible,”.

The UK government announced that no sport will be allowed take place until June 1st at the earliest. However, horse racing authorities had hoped to run some big races in the last two weeks in May. This will obviously not be the case now. A new timetable, with safety and social distance measures are now been drawn up with a June return now likely.

The British Horse Racing Spokesperson did state than the plans could change before, stating that the provisional plan may need to be adjusted according to when it is safe to do so by authorities.

The following are big races which look set to be held in the first week in June:

Wednesday 3 June or Thursday 4 June

Classic Trial (10f, 3yo, Group 3, Sandown)

Snowdrop (8f, 3+, Listed, Kempton)

Dahlia (10f, 4+, Group 2, Newmarket)

Palace House (5f, 3+, Group 3, Newmarket)

Sagaro (16f, 4+, Group 3, Sandown)

Newmarket (10f, 3, Listed, Newmarket)

Sunday 7 June

1,000 Guineas (8f, 3, Group 1, Newmarket)

Pretty Polly (10f, 3, Listed, Newmarket)

Buckhounds (12f, 4+, Listed, Ascot)

Cecil Frail (6f, 3+, Listed, Haydock)

Spring Trophy (7f, 3+, Group 3, Haydock)

Pinnacle (12f, 4+, Group 3, Haydock)

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The UK government on Monday released a roadmap on what they intend to do over the coming weeks, in terms of what activities can be carried out. In regards to sport in the UK, this falls under step 2 in their road map. It states that sports can return on June 1st but must be behind closed. It says, “Permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact”.

The document states that cinemas and venues can re-open in step three, which is no earlier than July 4th. It states, “Some venues which are, by design, crowded and where it may prove difficult to enact distancing may still not be able to reopen safely at this point, or may be able to open safely only in part”. All of this information is available in the document entitled Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Strategy’.

The document does state that the opening of venues, such as sports stadiums “will be only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in numbers of infections”.

It looks certain now that the various organisations will hold meetings to discuss their next plans of action and when to get sports going from June onwards. Football has been out on the back burner in the UK for nearly two months now (March 13th). However, we reported  last month that the Premier league are looking to return to complete the 92 games in June.

Horse Racing in the UK could also return in June. Horse racing stopped in the UK on March 17th. The news came from the British Racing Authority twitter account where they tweeted,  “Industry leaders are meeting to discuss the available information and will issue an initial response later today”.

The first horse racing events which could possibly fall under the June opening of venues will be the 1000 guineas and 2000 guineas as Newmarket. Whether they will. Go ahead or not is another question. Obviously things will have to stop, ie the slow of the spread of the virus to allow this to happen. However, we are still looking at no sport until June 1st at the earliest.

Video – Sky Sports Football

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