I still cannot understand why classrooms are open to kids .. yet fresh air is CLOSED
THANK you to everyone for their support as I bang the drum for grass- roots youth sport to be exempt from lockdown.
From Rio Ferdinand to Ben Foster and Jack Wilshere, I ’ve been knocked out by the range and the scale of messages as I
battle to hi ghli ght t he nonsense of schools staying open but kids being banned from playing football outdoors.
I ’m not doing it for personal gain or gratification. I ’m just a mong t h e t h o u s a nd s of parents and volunteers who have to explain to their children why crowded classrooms are apparently safe safer than fresh a i r i n a p a n - de demic.
But after a priv at e and c onstructive conversat i on wit h s p or t s minister Nigel Huddleston, I have to say I ’m more optimistic that we will be back in business by December 3.
Now that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has assured us we will be coming out of lockdown on December 2, we all have a common target.
I have to say the rationale for this shutdown still baffles me.
I understand, after speaking to Mr Huddleston ( right), that it ’s about grass- roots sport across the board and, if we allow football to return, other sports like tennis and golf will also have to be treated the same way.
But can anyone explain why schools are open but fresh air for kids is closed?
As England coach Gareth Southgate has said: “It does seem an unusual situation that we’re allowing kids to be at school, then stopping them from mixing outside.
“We’d all welcome the opportunity for kids to take part i n sport as l ong as i t ’s deemed safe.”
If you cast aside kids at grass- roots level, they will sufuffer if they can’t play or train rain while their peers in academies mies still enjoy the privilege.
If it’s safe for elite clubs, elite academies, and elite competitions who follow Covid- 19 rules, why is it too risky for grass- roots clubs who obser ve the same protocols?
It’s all very well for Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to say : “I would urge people to go out and get fit” during lockdown – but where are they supposed to go?
If you shut down all the leisure centres, f loodlit facilities, and outdoor 3G or 4G pitches, the kids have nowhere to go after school because daylight is on the way out by 4pm. My son Charlie is in a Category 1 academy and the only thing they do in addition to our protocols at Pro Football Academy All- Stars Under- 15s is to fill out a medical declaration on a form.
If a form is all it takes, I can rustle one up. No problem.
We need to focus on the return of grass- roots sport and, with the help of MPS like Nigel Huddleston I believe our wish will be granted.
If not, hundreds of thousands of kids, parents and volu n t e e r c o a c h e s wi l l f e e l incredibly let down by the Government if it we’re not back up and running by December 3.
‘ If you shut down all the leisure centres, floodlit facilities and outdoor pitches, kids have nowhere to go after school’