Clubs allowed to reopen dressing rooms with water breaks to remain in place for rest of year

GAA CLUB players will be heartened to hear that club dressing rooms have finally been permitted to reopen. The association yesterday issued updated guidelines to clubs after the government’s easing of Covid-19 restrictions. The guidelines differ for clubs north and south of the border. Dressing rooms in the south, where all individuals are vaccinated, will have the full use of showers and changing rooms. However, it has been advised that time spent in dressing rooms or showers should be kept to a minimum and that, where possible, pre-game or half-time team talks should take place outdoors. Vaccine status isn’t a factor in the north where dressings rooms are now also permitted to reopen.

The GAA also confirmed that water breaks will remain in place for all games for the remainder of 2021 in the south and that 100 per cent ground capacity can be used from today. As for ground capacity in the north, a risk assessment needs to be carried out to determine the maximum number of people which can attend an outdoor sporting event.

BRITISH Paralympic

cyclist Erin McBride has been banned for three years for the use of banned substance ostarine. The 23-year-old visuallyimpaired sprinter returned a positive result in an out-of-competition test at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester on March 3 — 13 days before she signed on to become a full member of British Cycling’s Paralympic world class programme. British Cycling said it was notified of the finding on April 15, and McBride was suspended without ever having competed for the team.