The head of Sport Ireland John Treacy has said non-contact sports, especially those conducted outdoors and where social distancing is possible, will be prioritised when Covid19 restrictions are eased.
Treacy, an Olympic marathon silver medal winner and twice cross country world champion, said while sport was preparing to resume he believed it would be much harder to recommence contact sports.
Speaking at a Government launch of a Staying Active
campaign aimed at keeping people physically and mentally occupied in lock-down,
Treacy said sport in Ireland would need to wait for the Government to advise
when it could resume.
There are fears for sports like rugby, soccer and Gaelic
Games, with concern now that this year, or at least most of it, will be lost.
But there is more optimism for those sports where socially distancing is possible, which hopefully will include solo cycling without the range limited to 2km from home, which is currently in place due to Covid19.
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“We all want to be back in action as soon as we possibly
can”, John Treacy said. “But we’re absolutely going to take advice from
government in terms of when restrictions are going to be lifted.
“Sport is planning for that day and we’ve provided some
material into our own department, that some sports that are non-contact, that
are done outdoors with a lot of social distancing and physical distancing; they
will obviously be a priority.
“But it’s up to the government to give the green light.
We provide the information to the government and the decisions will be made by
them.
“I think it would be a lot trickier for some of the
contact sports, we’ll just have to monitor that very carefully.
“And obviously whatever guidance we take from government,
we will take, but sport is planning for the day where things can resume.”
He added that despite the current restrictions in place,
which expire on May 5th but could be extended, people should try to keep active.
“If you are involved in physical activity, you will feel
better and that’s why we need to highlight the importance of sport to lighten
the load for people across the country.”
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