EPL set to continue during new lockdown in Britain
Premier League football and other forms of elite professional sport in England will be allowed to continue despite new national lockdown restrictions announced by the British government on Monday.
Nearly 56 million people in England will return to a full coronavirus lockdown, possibly until mid-February, to try to cut spiralling infection rates, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a televised address.
The measures, which include the closure of primary and secondary schools, will come into effect today, he said.
But a list of exemptions published by the UK government allowed “elite sportspeople (and their coaches if necessary, or parents/guardians if they are under 18) — or those on an official elite sports pathway — to compete and train.”
One key point i n determining whether a sporting competition can go ahead will be if it has, as the Premier League does, a testing regime and the provision of bio-secure bubbles in place.
Matches, however, will continue to be played behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, footballers must be role models and stop flouting coronavirus rules, Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow warned on Monday.
Villa captain Jack Grealish is one of a host of Premier League stars to break the lockdown restrictions since the pandemic hit.
The England winger was fined two weeks wages for his offence last year.
But several more top-flight players have broken the Covid-19 protocols, put in place to try to limit the spread of the virus, over Christmas and the New Year.
Tottenham trio Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso attended a Christmas party along with West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini.
Several Premier League matches have been postponed as a result of virus outbreaks at Newcastle, Fulham and Manchester City this season.
Purslow claimed Villa have been strict with players who have broken the rules, although Grealish and teammate Ross Barkley were not disciplined for eating at a restaurant together last month in contravention of London rules at the time. “I take a very dim view of it,” said Purslow.
“We’ve had a couple of instances and we’ve taken a very strict line on that.
“One of the shining lights of football has been the fact that, in such tough times, we’ve been able to keep the show on the road and provide entertainment at a time when there’s very little entertaining out there.
“That means that there’s a huge focus on our players and they have to understand that they are role models, they have to understand that they’re in the public eye and my mantra is they have try to be whiter than white in everything they do.”