Scottish Rugby sets route map for grassroots return
We want the clubs involved in what next
ASIX-PART roadmap for the return of club (grassroots) rugby has been unveiled by the Scottish Rugby Union with an October target for fullcontact, inter-club matches. However, Sheila Begbie, director of rugby development for the governing body (below), has warned that national league competitions may not be workable until the 2021-22 season.
While Scotland’s pro teams have already returned to training on a ‘voluntary’ basis, and Edinburgh are due to play Glasgow Warriors behind closed doors (or with a very limited crowd) on 22nd August, the club game is facing a much longer journey.
“The big difference [between pro and amateur rugby] is the amount of medical staff we’ve got, and the opportunity of testing on a regular basis,” explained Begbie. “What we are saying is that clubs shouldn’t expect a traditional season, because we don’t envisage any competitive rugby before October.
“We have asked our Council members [elected club representatives] to work with the Championship Committee because we want the clubs involved with what next season can look like.
“From our perspective, we would be potentially recommending some sort of regionalised, localised rugby, because we heard the first minster talking earlier in the week about [the fact] there will be local transmission, there will be local incidents – as we’ve seen already Dumfries and Galloway, in Aberdeen, and in what has happened down in Leicester as well.
“Our concern is that we start the season with National League rugby and then we have to shut down the whole game, whereas if we go for much more of a regional model then it could be that if there are local instances of Covid-19 we can shut down specific regions but allow the rest of the country to continue to play.
“And, there is a caveat that it does depend on the Scottish Government’s movement through their route-map.”
The plan is to have a proposal on what the club season might look like to put in front of the Council meeting scheduled for July 30, ahead of ratification by the board.
“One of the issues might be in terms of transportation,” Begbie added. “If there is some kind of social distancing then it means things such as the hire of buses to go to matches will become much more costly for the clubs. There might also be some restrictions on how far people can travel.”
Clubs and schools will be required to meet three specific criteria before any rugby activity can begin. The first is that they undertake regular risk assessments of indoor and outdoor facilities, the second is that they appoint a Covid-19 Safety Co-ordinator in each club before any activity can begin who will oversee public health and safety measures across the club, and the third is that coaches, match officials and volunteers complete a mandatory online Scottish Rugby online course before traditional full-contact training and matches encompassing a specific World Rugby endorsed Covid-19 module. The implementation of Phase 3 by the Scottish Government of its lockdown easing will enable Scottish Rugby to begin Stage 3 of its own roadmap which will allow the adult game to return to training in small groups, with potential for gyms to open.
Scottish Government’s Phase 4 will begin once the Covid virus is no longer deemed a significant risk to the public. This could trigger Scottish Rugby to move to its final set of stages, starting with Stage 4 which will enable a return to train for larger groups with the introduction of modified contact, activities such as small sided games with a modified tackle and breakdown area.
Stage 5 opens up “Return to Play” opportunities, with potential friendly matches and full team training possible, plus the opening of club houses and indoor facilities; and Stage 6 will could allow competitive matches to commence.
Scottish Rugby says it will commit “support and resources” to help clubs through the process but Begbie was not able to give detail on how funding will work in the coming weeks, months and perhaps even years, with the established based on clubs hitting certain targets not applicable at this time.
“I don’t think we can measure the clubs on what we have previously measured them on because it is not going to be a traditional season, so we can’t measure them against number of coaches, number of players and so on,” she explained. “I would want us to be much more relaxed around that investment and to look at that investment more around supporting them to be Covid compliant.”