Essex RFU

The UK Government announced on 13th May 2020, a slight easing of lockdown measures and in particular, in relation to the outdoor physical exercise we are now allowed to undertake and the associated facilities.

England Rugby have produced a number of resources to clarify the government guidelines in relation to rugby and the reopening of rugby clubs and we have collated the key resources here for your reference.

Facilities

England Rugby have summarised in this document the things to consider when reopening your facility. The headline point is that you should only be opening the toilets, the thoroughfares necessary to access toilet and/or the pitch, or to sell takeaway food and drink.

Many of your clubs will have been mothballed since the start of the lockdown in March and if you haven’t been able to access the club, it is important that you consider the risk of legionnaires’ disease. Legionnaires’ disease is a bacterial lung infection, typically caused by waterborne bacteria found in plumbing that has not been used for a prolonged period of time.

The good news is that legionnaires’ disease is easily preventable and you can find more on how to prepare your facility here.

At the beginning of the lockdown, the government announced that they would relax planning laws to enable pubs and restaurants to temporarily serve takeaway food and drink. Whilst many businesses chose to close for the lockdown period, it may now be worth considering the benefits of take away food and drink, if it is cost effective for you to do so. More can be found here.

Returning to Play

Whilst we are still awaiting a meaningful update on the return to “proper” rugby, there are still measures we can take to ensure that we can return to play safely.

England Rugby summarised the recent announcement and what it means for rugby here.

Key factors to take away are that you must only exercise with members of your household OR one other person, maintaining social distancing protocols, and you must use your own equipment. This allows 1 2 1 coaching, fitness and so on, as well as the potential to record a 1 2 1 training session that is available for distribution within your club.

With a prolonged period without contact training, the risk of injury is bound to be a concern. England Rugby’s Activate is known to reduce risk of concussion by 59%, the risk of overall match injuries (in age grade boys) by 72% and lower limb injuries (in adult men) by 40%. Incorporating this injury prevention programme into your preseason (remotely or otherwise, as appropriate) should give players the confidence to return to rugby safely.

You can also find strength & conditioning advice from England Rugby medical staff here.

Dates for the Diary

The UK Government is expected to make announcements on 1st June and 1st July 2020 which are likely to have a direct impact on our return to rugby. The RFU will analyse the changes announced and will release further, rugby specific, guidelines shortly thereafter.

We will do our best to keep our website up to date but if you have any questions, please direct them to Ivor Smith, Hon. Secretary for Essex County RFU, or Annie Coulson, Rugby Development Officer for Essex.

Ivor Smith
hon.sec@essexrugby.com

Annie Coulson
anniecoulson@rfu.com
07563 554130