England Hockey were delighted to see the roadmap set out this week for the return of outdoor team sports from Monday 29 March onwards. As schools and colleges return to the classroom from Monday 8 March, we understand that sport in educational settings will be permitted, with full guidance to be confirmed.
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.