SAFETY THIRST
We will ‘leave no stone unturned’
LEAGUE OF IRELAND players will have their temperature taken and recorded four times a day under new return to training protocols.
And they will be tested twice weekly for Covid-19.
While efforts to resume the season behind closed doors have continued this week, clubs have yet to see the FAI’S financial assistance plan.
But the association last night sent clubs a nine-page ‘Return to Training’ document ahead of next month’s first steps towards playing.
Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Derry City – the four clubs in European competition – have the green light to resume training on June 8.
And the rest will follow suit on June 29, before those four Europe-bound clubs meet in a mini-tournament at Tallaght Stadium in late July.
Players and coaching staff were last night dissecting the new guidelines surrounding their return to training.
Mirror Sport has seen the detailed document and, among a wide range of measures, players and staff will take and record their temperatures four times on training days.
Their first temperature check will be before they leave their home that morning. Club medical staff must be notified if any temperature is equal or greater than 37.5C.
Arriving at the training ground, players and staff will have their temperature rechecked by a designated recorder wearing PPE and respecting social distancing.
Players and coaches must then take their temperature four hours after returning home and then recheck it another four hours later, recording all details with their club.
The only people permitted at the training ground will be first-team players, head coach, coaches, medical staff, kit man, groundsman and the Covid-19 safety officer. Players and staff at Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Bohs and Derry will be tested for Covid-19 next Monday and again on June 8, the day they resume training.
They will also have to complete an online questionnaire as part of a screening process before they are considered medically fit to attend that first training session.
Covid-19 testing will then take place twice weekly throughout the training period for all clubs – envisaged to last between four and six weeks – but that is open to change. As of last night, no player in the League of Ireland has tested positive for coronavirus.
Any individual who does in the weeks ahead must self-isolate for 14 days and can only return to training once they are retested and Covid is “not detected”.
According to the FAI guidelines issued last night “where more than one individual has tested positive in any team grouping, Public Health advice will be sought”. And the document added: “The team doctor will have the final decision on whether the individual can return to the training facility.”
Players and staff have been told to travel to training alone but if players live together, they can travel as a group.
At training, “all activity should be on the training ground”. Dressing rooms, meeting rooms and dining rooms will be out of bounds.
Team meetings will be restricted to a maximum of 10 minutes on the pitch while adhering to social distancing.