Overview
Last week, it was announced that community sport for under 18s would be allowed to recommence from July 1. Now, NSW Sports Minister Geoff Lee has revealed in an interview on 2GB, that adults will be able to return to the sports fields, too.
Netball, basketball, Aussie rules, rugby and indoor soccer are all back on the cards, with Lee telling 2GB, "all community sports will return July 1 this year and everybody can play, it's game on for the whole community."
At the moment, teams can train in groups of up to ten only, but Lee says limits on group sizes for sport will also be relaxed from the first of next month, which is particularly helpful for sports, like AFL, where you have more than ten a side.
The NSW Government is currently developing a COVIDSafe checklist for community sport, which will include guidelines on hygiene, social distancing and — a much debated topic — spectators.
From this weekend, up to 50 people, with one person per four square metres, will be allowed in corporate boxes at NRL stadiums. But Lee says the Government is currently working on other spectator limits, for both professional and community sport.
While Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V'landys is calling for full stadiums by August 1 and NSW's Deputy Premier John Barilaro wants fans in stadium stands as early as this weekend, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told The Today Show that fans will not be permitted to return to the footy this weekend.
"No, not this weekend, no," the Premier said. "However, as we've said, the use of corporate boxes and the like is the first stage."
This Saturday, June 13, gyms, fitness centres and yoga and dance studios will all be allowed to reopen with class sizes restricted to ten people and a maximum of 100 people per venue. Indoor pools and saunas will be able to reopen with restrictions, too, following the reopening of outdoor pools and ocean pools back on May 15.
For more information about what you can and can't currently do in NSW under COVID–19 restrictions, have a look here and at the NSW Government website.