All of the latest information regarding a return to the hockey pitch, as of early March, in the face of the latest coronavirus news

The UK Government, last week, set out their road map for a four step plan back to society opening up once again after a third lockdown period within the last 12 months. This ranges from schools re-opening for all pupils from next week, to the removal of all legal limits on social contact by the end of June. The recent fall in the R-rate of infection from covid-19 is very positive and welcome news after a winter spent apart from one another.

The impact this has on hockey will clearly also be a positive one and the Club’s Committee met last week to discuss how we’ll be moving forward. While there was hope that Junior Training could resume as the schools return, it is now clear that there won’t be any hockey taking place until March the 29th at the very earliest. This is the date set by the government for the return of team sports (though worth noting that there is a real possibility of this date being moved if circumstances across the country don’t fall in line with expectations), so covers all hockey across all age groups.

What we’ll be able to do when this happens is still a grey area at present;

It is great news that the country will once again soon be able to experience the feeling of picking up a stick and returning to their hockey clubs. However, there are still a lot of unknowns at this stage. We and other national governing bodies now await further detail from the government with specific guidance of what can and cannot be done. In addition to the specific government guidance for grassroots sport, there will also be wider national considerations to factor in. For example, restrictions on travel and car-sharing, like those seen in October and November of last year, could greatly impact the level to which we are able to return. Once we have sight of the more detailed guidance and understand fully how this might impact our ability to return, we will revisit our official Return to Play guidance and documents and publish updated information.

England Hockey: What Happens Next With Return To Play?

The Current Plan

The Committee will be reconvening closer to the end of March when it’s hoped there will be further clarity about what a return to hockey will look like. Clearly the hockey we play will be governed directly by the advice we’re given in terms of what we can and can’t do and at the very least there will be similar – if not identical – measures to the ones we played under in the Autumn of last year. Limited numbers on the pitch, staggered arrival / leave times, bathing in hand sanitiser on your way in and out, etc.

When there is further information it’ll be posted here and we’ll inform all club members.

What about League Games?

At different points over the last few months, the various leagues that we play in have marked the 2020/21 season as null and void. There is the possibility of a play-off competition for the North but, again, we await further details.

We are not currently expecting any other league activity prior to the start of the 2021/22 season.

What can we look forward to?

Details continue to be very sketchy at the moment (and the list below isn’t a set of promises) but, if the club were to have a roadmap of its own, we are looking into the following;

• Junior Hockey Training; going much further into the summer than previously
• Senior Training
• Senior Competition
• Summer Hockey competition
• Possibly even socially-distanced drinks on the field at the Lindum