Senior Sports Reporter
YOUTH, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister, Kirsty Coventry, says although she is itching for sport to return, safety remains her key priority.
She said she understands what it means for an athlete, from the budding ones to the seasoned ones, who have been forced to retreat, and go into lockdown.
“I was an athlete, my heart bleeds for our national teams, not just national teams but all of our athletes that are supposed to be going into Grade Seven, Upper Sixth, years when they would be playing numerous sport,” she said.
“I want to see sport resume, as quickly as we can, based on the fact that we would be able to ensure the health and safety of our athletes, that is my top priority.
“Right now, we are still, as a nation, in Level Four, for another two weeks, and we would be able to assess ,during these two weeks, where we may, or not, think we will be going.
“We have already, even during this lockdown, we have been given special permission, for some athletes to train or to continue to train.
“And, that is because we have had very good work, coming from the national associations who have gone out of their way to properly protect their athletes.
“They have put them in bubbles, they have ensured testing, they have ensured that athletes are not misbehaving and going out and doing whatever.
“If a national association can provide all of those protocols to us, and ensure that they will be followed, obviously, as our numbers come down, and hopefully, as we drop out of Level Four, potentially to Level Three or Level Two, in the next few months, we will then be more than willing to work with those national associations to ensure that the players are back on the field.
“Now, spectators, we all know that it would be a very different story, so, I wouldn’t expect to be in a stadium anytime soon.
“But, as long as the national associations have done the appropriate work to ensure that the athletes remain healthy and safe, we would be doing everything from our side to ensure the resumption of that sport.”
Coventry said she advised national associations to be specific in their requests, for the resumption of sport, which is done through the Sports Commission.
“My one word I spoke to the national associations, since this morning (yesterday), a word of advice when they are sending in their requests, is to be as specific as possible,” she said.
“If the national associations can write to us and say, ‘this is the date we want to play this team and there are the protocols,’ there is a higher possibility, and chance, that you will have a positive response.
“If it’s just a blanket like, ‘we want to resume and we want to play international friendlies,’ who do you want to play against, and what dates do you want to play those games?
“What are the protocols you would be following?
“If none of those questions are asked, what is that, how do we even move forward?
“So, the national associations, when you are sending in your requests, please ensure that you have every single detail that you already know is needed, in order to be given the permission to resume.”
Asked about funding, of national associations to satisfy the new measures which require a bigger budget to the already cash-strapped entities, Coventry challenged the administrators to do their homework.
“So, we were having conversations, until we get something from the national associations on their plan of how they will work back into the sporting areas, there is not really much the SRC, and the Ministry, can sit here and think it might take X amount for football, or X amount for swimming, that all has to come from the association,” she said.
“So, in their request to SRC, they should be writing ‘this is a request, this is what we would be looking for as support’, and then, as Government, and as a Ministry, we would be able to then look and say ‘this is what we can help with, this is what we can’t help with.’
“But, until we know, and we get proper communication from the national associations about what kind of support they would be looking for, it’s very hard for us to just thumb suck a number and not really have any evidence, as to where that number came from.
“That is again something that the national associations have to be giving us through the SRC.”