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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2...cial-collapse-covid-second-wave-raises-fears/
Over 100 national and grass-roots governing bodies have signed a letter pleading with the Prime Minister for a major new bail-out
By Tom Morgan ; Ben Rumsby ; Jeremy Wilson ; Matt Law and Ben Coles 21 September 2020 • 10:00pm
British sport was on the brink of financial implosion on Monday night after government forecasts of a devastating Covid-19 second wave raised fears that competitions and clubs would be folding within weeks.
The Premier League, Rugby Football Union and England and Wales Cricket Board are among more than 100 national and grass-roots governing bodies to sign a letter pleading with the Prime Minister for a major new bail-out as the pandemic tightens its grip again.
Cash-strapped lower league football clubs, meanwhile, told The Daily Telegraph they were running out of time in their bid for support from the top tier while Whitehall edges closer to introducing tough new curbs.
On another day of sporting setbacks, it also emerged that:
Ministers are already under mounting pressure from sport to match the support packages, totalling £1.57 billion, that have been received by the arts and restaurant sectors. The sporting sector, facing losses running into billions of pounds, has a workforce of more than 600,000. Many of the nation’s governing bodies signed a joint letter on Monday urging Johnson “to ring-fence funding for the recovery of the sports and activity sector – or risk fuelling physical inactivity and related illnesses for a generation”.
As infection rates surge to their highest rates since the first peak in the spring, Leyton Orient became the first club affected to have their playing plans severely disrupted by the second wave. Seven players initially tested positive, with other staff members awaiting results of tests. The club were forced to close their stadium and training ground amid fears infections could run into double figures. Mansfield, Orient’s opponents at the weekend, were also being tested.
Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that elite competition behind closed doors was set to continue regardless of Johnson’s announcement on Tuesday, with athletes maintaining their bubble arrangements. However, the Oct 1 return of crowds is highly unlikely, and one senior figure in British sport said he feared new limits for the public playing sport again. “It’s undoubtedly a possibility,” the figure said, adding that “grass-roots sport was facing considerable difficulty”.
Leading figures in lower league football and across rugby said clubs were already on the verge of going out of business. The diminishing likelihood of getting crowds back was described as a “nightmare” by Andy Holt, the Accrington Stanley chairman. He said that League One and League Two were in “limbo” as the Premier League had provided no guarantees that it would provide a £200 million bail-out, which had been first mooted weeks ago.
“Every time it’s been ‘it’s coming, it’s coming’ – we’re just being dangled along,” he said. “What you don’t want to do is to make savage cuts and potentially damage your club over the long run if there is something around the corner. Managing a club now is impossible without key bits of information. It’s like managing any business where you just can’t make any plans.”
Holt’s concerns over delays in getting crowds back next month were mirrored by teams in rugby’s Gallagher Premiership. “We need to put some bums on seats,” Tony Rowe, chairman at Exeter Chiefs, said. “We were all thinking about getting the trial games out of the way and then, come November, a lot of the information coming down was that we might be allowed up to about 30 per cent capacity and that pays some of the bills. The problem is that most clubs – and we’re no different with a capacity just under 14,000 – our ‘break even’ is about 10,000. We will still all be losing money, just not as much and it will help us hang on a little bit longer. That is the problem – when will we run out of money? I am surprised in the Premiership that we have not had the demise of any clubs so far.”
Seven English Football League clubs held crowd pilots over the weekend for 1,000 spectators, and there were about 400 for the racing at Warwick on Monday. Newmarket was understood to be in regular contact with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about plans to open their gates on Thursday.
In other developments, UK Coaching became the latest organisation to warn of the long-term impacts on sport. Gannon, whose organisation is working closely with the FA to encourage more women and girls to get involved in the game, said: “The biggest fear is that this pushes us back 10 years. We had such momentum in the girls’ and women’s game leading into the pandemic, and I’m not sure we had enough coaches and volunteers in the first place.”
The letter from sport to government, meanwhile, cites the need for support programmes and facilities that address the health inequalities suffered among women, lower socio-economic groups, minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities. Huw Edwards, chief executive of UKActive said: “This is a health crisis and our sector can play a vital role in supporting our NHS by restoring the nation’s physical and mental resilience in the face of this terrible virus.”
Over 100 national and grass-roots governing bodies have signed a letter pleading with the Prime Minister for a major new bail-out
By Tom Morgan ; Ben Rumsby ; Jeremy Wilson ; Matt Law and Ben Coles 21 September 2020 • 10:00pm
British sport was on the brink of financial implosion on Monday night after government forecasts of a devastating Covid-19 second wave raised fears that competitions and clubs would be folding within weeks.
The Premier League, Rugby Football Union and England and Wales Cricket Board are among more than 100 national and grass-roots governing bodies to sign a letter pleading with the Prime Minister for a major new bail-out as the pandemic tightens its grip again.
Cash-strapped lower league football clubs, meanwhile, told The Daily Telegraph they were running out of time in their bid for support from the top tier while Whitehall edges closer to introducing tough new curbs.
On another day of sporting setbacks, it also emerged that:
- Leyton Orient’s televised Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham was called off on Monday night after a Covid outbreak involving seven players. There were fears that other matches could follow suit as infection rates increase.
- The return of fans to all venues from Oct 1 looks doomed, with sports braced for six months behind closed doors or with minuscule crowds. Whitehall sources told The Telegraph the situation for the sector was “increasingly concerning”.
- Girls’ and women’s football is at risk of being set back a decade, according to UK Coaching chief executive Mark Gannon, who insists action must be taken to ensure the number of coaches is not allowed to dwindle as clubs and facilities count the cost of lockdown.
- Fears are mounting that competitive grass-roots sports could eventually be scaled back after Boris Johnson announces new lockdown rules on Tuesday.
Ministers are already under mounting pressure from sport to match the support packages, totalling £1.57 billion, that have been received by the arts and restaurant sectors. The sporting sector, facing losses running into billions of pounds, has a workforce of more than 600,000. Many of the nation’s governing bodies signed a joint letter on Monday urging Johnson “to ring-fence funding for the recovery of the sports and activity sector – or risk fuelling physical inactivity and related illnesses for a generation”.
As infection rates surge to their highest rates since the first peak in the spring, Leyton Orient became the first club affected to have their playing plans severely disrupted by the second wave. Seven players initially tested positive, with other staff members awaiting results of tests. The club were forced to close their stadium and training ground amid fears infections could run into double figures. Mansfield, Orient’s opponents at the weekend, were also being tested.
Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that elite competition behind closed doors was set to continue regardless of Johnson’s announcement on Tuesday, with athletes maintaining their bubble arrangements. However, the Oct 1 return of crowds is highly unlikely, and one senior figure in British sport said he feared new limits for the public playing sport again. “It’s undoubtedly a possibility,” the figure said, adding that “grass-roots sport was facing considerable difficulty”.
Leading figures in lower league football and across rugby said clubs were already on the verge of going out of business. The diminishing likelihood of getting crowds back was described as a “nightmare” by Andy Holt, the Accrington Stanley chairman. He said that League One and League Two were in “limbo” as the Premier League had provided no guarantees that it would provide a £200 million bail-out, which had been first mooted weeks ago.
“Every time it’s been ‘it’s coming, it’s coming’ – we’re just being dangled along,” he said. “What you don’t want to do is to make savage cuts and potentially damage your club over the long run if there is something around the corner. Managing a club now is impossible without key bits of information. It’s like managing any business where you just can’t make any plans.”
Holt’s concerns over delays in getting crowds back next month were mirrored by teams in rugby’s Gallagher Premiership. “We need to put some bums on seats,” Tony Rowe, chairman at Exeter Chiefs, said. “We were all thinking about getting the trial games out of the way and then, come November, a lot of the information coming down was that we might be allowed up to about 30 per cent capacity and that pays some of the bills. The problem is that most clubs – and we’re no different with a capacity just under 14,000 – our ‘break even’ is about 10,000. We will still all be losing money, just not as much and it will help us hang on a little bit longer. That is the problem – when will we run out of money? I am surprised in the Premiership that we have not had the demise of any clubs so far.”
Seven English Football League clubs held crowd pilots over the weekend for 1,000 spectators, and there were about 400 for the racing at Warwick on Monday. Newmarket was understood to be in regular contact with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about plans to open their gates on Thursday.
In other developments, UK Coaching became the latest organisation to warn of the long-term impacts on sport. Gannon, whose organisation is working closely with the FA to encourage more women and girls to get involved in the game, said: “The biggest fear is that this pushes us back 10 years. We had such momentum in the girls’ and women’s game leading into the pandemic, and I’m not sure we had enough coaches and volunteers in the first place.”
The letter from sport to government, meanwhile, cites the need for support programmes and facilities that address the health inequalities suffered among women, lower socio-economic groups, minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities. Huw Edwards, chief executive of UKActive said: “This is a health crisis and our sector can play a vital role in supporting our NHS by restoring the nation’s physical and mental resilience in the face of this terrible virus.”
