Yesterday’s announcement of a second lockdown by the Prime Minister temporarily brings hockey to a standstill for the moment

The new National Lockdown announced yesterday, by the Prime Minister at Downing Street, that (pending parliament voting it through) will begin this coming Thursday, November the 5th, was always going to have some sort of impact on field hockey in the UK. There was potential for organised sport to be permitted during this time, while the details were thrashed out and clarified, but it’s not been announced that hockey will come to a full stop until at least December the 4th.

Announcement: England Hockey are disappointed to have to confirm that the national lockdown announced on Saturday will mean no club or community hockey from 5 November until after 4 December at the earliest.

Full update: https://t.co/r61tabseGn pic.twitter.com/A0uAJRQ1sL

— England Hockey (@EnglandHockey) November 1, 2020

Training This Week

Training will still be running on Tuesday and Wednesday (Academy) this week but obviously any hockey activity that follows from Thursday onwards is now postponed.

What Happens Next?

The December the 4th date is the current government plan to come out of this second lockdown in 2020. At that point the pre-existing Tier System, of which Lincoln is in Tier 1 at the time of writing, will be implemented once again. England Hockey will then refer to their currently used Return To Hockey process.

It’s quite possible that the exit plan will change depending upon the success of the lockdown and the impact on the “R rate” (rate of infection). As a club we will prepare to return to the pitch as soon as we’re permitted and able to. Any official news on the impact on this year’s league competitions will be relayed when we know more.

In the meantime, we hope that everyone remains safe and well.