Tier 4 - Restrictions.

[Dev]

 

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56224104

Scottish football: Prof Leitch 'hopeful' of return-to-play update coming soon

Last updated on27 February 202127 February 2021.From the sectionScottish

Falkirk are currently top of Scottish League One

Scotland's national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch is "hopeful" Scottish football's lower leagues and the women's game will be told next week when they can return.

All play below Championship level, including Scottish Cup ties, has been suspended since 12 January.

However, the situation is due to be reassessed on Monday.

"I'm hopeful we can do it with mitigation and safety in place," Prof Leitch told BBC Scotland.

"I'm pretty confident that next week there will be news that will indicate where we're headed for the next phases and I'm hoping that will be joint government and league news, because we're trying to do it together."

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Off The Ball, he added: "It's complicated because at one side there is the list of reasons why we should [allow the competitions to restart] and at the other end there are 800 positive tests a day, quite a lot of travel, these teams are not full-time so they're not as protected as the full-time teams. It's not straightforward."

Challenges remain for the competitions, though, with a mix of full-time and part-time clubs in SPFL Leagues One and Two, and the Scottish Women's Premier League.

Some League One and League Two clubs still have 19 fixtures of their 27-game campaign to complete, and would face the prospect of playing every Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for a spell to catch up.

Both these leagues are due to complete their campaigns on 1 May, with play-offs scheduled to take place after that to determine promotion and relegation.

In the women's game, some full-time clubs are keen to resume training, even if the restart of the league campaign remains undecided, while the Scottish Cup is in limbo until decisions are made about the resumption of training and playing for lower-league clubs.

Any proposal to reduce the number of fixtures in League One and League Two would require at least eight teams from each league to vote in favour. A similar majority would be required to agree to null and void the lower leagues.

[pollokfan1987]

Latest from the SFA 

 

no Update that's all

 

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/suspension-of-football-update-1-march/?rid=13929

[Aubrey Maturin]

Shouldn't have started without access to dressing rooms and without fans in the first place.

We are now in March with nil start date on the horizon, players would need a few weeks to get fit and then cram it all into April,  May and June.  Will end up with quite the injury list.   Impacts on next season preparation too surely?

We would still have no fans,  dressing rooms not available at all clubs, and nil showering facilities 

Time to bring this all to a close and say OK we tried but its not really happening.

Dust everyone down and restart next season when people are vaccinated, you can have crowds in the ground and players have facilities.

Football without fans, doesn't really work does it?

Anyway just my own personal opinion lets see what is decided next few days.

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Tynierose

[GordonS]

6 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

 

Football without fans, doesn't really work does it?

 

I couldn't understand the point when they restarted behind closed doors and was worried about the financial and health risks, but at least for the the most part the live streaming has worked very well. I'veI really appreciated having the games to look forward to, but it's obviously not remotely the same.

I'll go with the flow on this one, they're all bad options.

[Sergeant Wilson]

On 24/02/2021 at 13:16, AlanCamelonfan said:

denser and theirs large areas with nothing.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Dev]

Looks as though the SG has really been put on the spot by the good news about the vaccines. Sorry, meant great news!:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56240220

Covid vaccines cut risk of serious illness by 80%

By Nick Triggle and Michelle Roberts    BBC News    Monday  1^st March, 2021-03-01

A single shot of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid jab reduces the chance of needing hospital treatment by more than 80%, an analysis in England shows.

The Public Health England data showed the effect kicked in three to four weeks after vaccination. It was based on people over 80 who were the first to receive the jab. Government scientists hailed the result, saying vaccines would soon take the UK "into a very different world".

More than 20 million people in the UK have had their first dose of a vaccine. That's over a third of the adult population. But the scientists stressed two doses were still needed to give the best protection. It comes after similar findings were published by Scottish health authorities last week, which they hailed as "spectacular".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the latest vaccine results were "very strong". He added: "They may also help to explain why the number of Covid admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks."

Real life impact

.......... Dr Mary Ramsay, Public Health England's head of immunisation, said there was growing evidence showing that the vaccines were working to reduce infections and save lives. "While there remains much more data to follow, this is encouraging and we are increasingly confident that vaccines are making a real difference."

The PHE data, which has not been peer reviewed, also suggested the Pfizer vaccine, which started being rolled out a month before the AstraZeneca vaccine, leads to an 83% reduction in deaths from Covid - this was based on over 80s who had died. And it showed vaccination cuts the risk of people over 70 developing any Covid symptoms by around 60% three weeks after a first dose.

[Crow]

2 hours ago, Tynierose said:

Shouldn't have started without access to dressing rooms and without fans in the first place.

We are now in March with nil start date on the horizon, players would need a few weeks to get fit and then cram it all into April,  May and June.  Will end up with quite the injury list.   Impacts on next season preparation too surely?

We would still have no fans,  dressing rooms not available at all clubs, and nil showering facilities 

Time to bring this all to a close and say OK we tried but its not really happening.

Dust everyone down and restart next season when people are vaccinated, you can have crowds in the ground and players have facilities.

Football without fans, doesn't really work does it?

Anyway just my own personal opinion lets see what is decided next few days.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I still think we did the right thing getting the season up and running. Unfortunately we were never able to progress to getting fans back in the ground. 
 

Agree it’s time to bring it to a close now though and we try again next season.

[John S]

16 minutes ago, Crow said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I still think we did the right thing getting the season up and running. Unfortunately we were never able to progress to getting fans back in the ground. 
 

Agree it’s time to bring it to a close now though and we try again next season.

In fairness to Tynie he was saying this from the off

 

[Crow]

1 hour ago, John S said:

In fairness to Tynie he was saying this from the off

 

Fairy nuff. 

[GordonS]

5 hours ago, Dev said:

Looks as though the SG has really been put on the spot by the good news about the vaccines. Sorry, meant great news!:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56240220

Covid vaccines cut risk of serious illness by 80%

By Nick Triggle and Michelle Roberts    BBC News    Monday  1^st March, 2021-03-01

A single shot of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid jab reduces the chance of needing hospital treatment by more than 80%, an analysis in England shows.

The Public Health England data showed the effect kicked in three to four weeks after vaccination. It was based on people over 80 who were the first to receive the jab. Government scientists hailed the result, saying vaccines would soon take the UK "into a very different world".

More than 20 million people in the UK have had their first dose of a vaccine. That's over a third of the adult population. But the scientists stressed two doses were still needed to give the best protection. It comes after similar findings were published by Scottish health authorities last week, which they hailed as "spectacular".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the latest vaccine results were "very strong". He added: "They may also help to explain why the number of Covid admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks."

Real life impact

.......... Dr Mary Ramsay, Public Health England's head of immunisation, said there was growing evidence showing that the vaccines were working to reduce infections and save lives. "While there remains much more data to follow, this is encouraging and we are increasingly confident that vaccines are making a real difference."

The PHE data, which has not been peer reviewed, also suggested the Pfizer vaccine, which started being rolled out a month before the AstraZeneca vaccine, leads to an 83% reduction in deaths from Covid - this was based on over 80s who had died. And it showed vaccination cuts the risk of people over 70 developing any Covid symptoms by around 60% three weeks after a first dose.

Wee bit too early to get out the champagne. One, 80% is great but it's not enough on its own - if we opened up, 20% of what we would otherwise have had without the vaccine would still be intolerable. And two, early evidence is that the vaccine is less effective against the Manaus variant.

We're getting towards the edge of the woods but we're not there yet. It's still haud horses time.

[Dev]

20 minutes ago, GordonS said:

Wee bit too early to get out the champagne. One, 80% is great but it's not enough on its own - if we opened up, 20% of what we would otherwise have had without the vaccine would still be intolerable. And two, early evidence is that the vaccine is less effective against the Manaus variant.

We're getting towards the edge of the woods but we're not there yet. It's still haud horses time.

Thinking that the situation could be managed by the SG but I doubt their will to do so but if they did then the senior leagues would have to find ways to complete the seasons.

[Dunfermline Jag]

Worth remembering that, at the point the season started for most, cases in Scotland were 5 times what they are right now, and rising, with no vaccine. If it was OK to start the season in October it is most certainly OK to restart it now with cases down, falling and  vaccines having a further dramatic impact -variants or no variants.

[Dev]

Apparently good enough to let the whole of the SPFL and Womens Prem get the go ahead. Some Highland League clubs OK to play in the Scottish Cup.

Silent about anyone below that as yet. Some may take that as everyone-else finished for the season. Let's hope those negative individuals are proved wrong ASAP.

[FairWeatherFan]

2 minutes ago, Dev said:

Apparently good enough to let the whole of the SPFL and Womens Prem get the go ahead. Some Highland League clubs OK to play in the Scottish Cup.

Silent about anyone below that as yet. Some may take that as everyone-else finished for the season. Let's hope those negative individuals are proved wrong ASAP.

The lower SPFL leagues will presumably be testing and as the SWPL1 is only 8 teams i'd imagine they've given the guarantee over testing as well. The HL sides in the Scottish Cup probably will as well.

[Burnieman]

Tuesday 2 March 2021

The Scottish FA welcomes news from the First Minister that Scottish Women’s Premier League 1 and SPFL League One and Two can return to football activity immediately.

The parameters under which that return is allowed follows discussions between the Scottish FA and representatives of each league and based on the current SPFL Premiership and Championship Joint Response Group Protocols, including a requirement to undertake PCR testing once per week.

Scottish Women’s Football Premier League 2, Highland League, Lowland League, East, West & South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League all remain under temporary suspension and their return to football activity will be reviewed in line with the Scottish Government’s road map out of the COVID-19 crisis.

We will continue to liaise with representatives of those leagues in the coming weeks to establish appropriate return to football protocols.

The Scottish Cup has also been given approval to resume, with all clubs in the competition given permission to participate subject to compliance with PCR testing requirements. Revised Scottish Cup fixture dates will be announced as soon as possible.

The SPFL and SWF will also update on the respective league fixture schedules in due course.

Rod Petrie, Scottish FA President: “We are pleased that the First Minister has again recognised the importance of football in Scotland. The decision to temporarily suspend parts of the professional game played by predominantly part-time teams was not an easy one to take. None the less, given the sharp rise in infection rates caused by new strains of the virus at the start of the year, it was the right thing to do to assist the national effort to reduce its prevalence during lockdown.

“The preparatory work undertaken with representatives of affected leagues and their commitment to the inclusion of weekly PCR testing, has given ministers the confidence to permit the return of SWPL 1 and SPFL League One and Two.

“While we are pleased to see the return of these leagues, there remain significant numbers unable to return to play, including the remaining levels of the professional pyramid, elite youth football, club youth football and our amateur and grassroots clubs across both the male and female game.

“We are acutely aware of the desire within those levels of football to return to playing football and we will continue to work with the Scottish Government to ensure they are able to as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Public Health and Sport: “We are aware of the importance of football, at all levels, to many people in Scotland and I’m happy that we have been able to work closely with the Scottish FA to allow the resumption of some further football activity – starting with SPFL Leagues 1 and 2, SWPL1 and clubs still in this season’s Scottish Cup.

“This could only happen alongside enhanced measures to keep everyone safe, including mandatory weekly COVID PCR tests for all players and staff.

“We continue to discuss with the Scottish FA and other stakeholders to ensure football at all levels can resume as soon as it is safe to do so.”

[AlanCamelonfan]

1 hour ago, Burnieman said:

Tuesday 2 March 2021

The Scottish FA welcomes news from the First Minister that Scottish Women’s Premier League 1 and SPFL League One and Two can return to football activity immediately.

The parameters under which that return is allowed follows discussions between the Scottish FA and representatives of each league and based on the current SPFL Premiership and Championship Joint Response Group Protocols, including a requirement to undertake PCR testing once per week.

Scottish Women’s Football Premier League 2, Highland League, Lowland League, East, West & South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League all remain under temporary suspension and their return to football activity will be reviewed in line with the Scottish Government’s road map out of the COVID-19 crisis.

We will continue to liaise with representatives of those leagues in the coming weeks to establish appropriate return to football protocols.

The Scottish Cup has also been given approval to resume, with all clubs in the competition given permission to participate subject to compliance with PCR testing requirements. Revised Scottish Cup fixture dates will be announced as soon as possible.

The SPFL and SWF will also update on the respective league fixture schedules in due course.

Rod Petrie, Scottish FA President: “We are pleased that the First Minister has again recognised the importance of football in Scotland. The decision to temporarily suspend parts of the professional game played by predominantly part-time teams was not an easy one to take. None the less, given the sharp rise in infection rates caused by new strains of the virus at the start of the year, it was the right thing to do to assist the national effort to reduce its prevalence during lockdown.

“The preparatory work undertaken with representatives of affected leagues and their commitment to the inclusion of weekly PCR testing, has given ministers the confidence to permit the return of SWPL 1 and SPFL League One and Two.

“While we are pleased to see the return of these leagues, there remain significant numbers unable to return to play, including the remaining levels of the professional pyramid, elite youth football, club youth football and our amateur and grassroots clubs across both the male and female game.

“We are acutely aware of the desire within those levels of football to return to playing football and we will continue to work with the Scottish Government to ensure they are able to as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Public Health and Sport: “We are aware of the importance of football, at all levels, to many people in Scotland and I’m happy that we have been able to work closely with the Scottish FA to allow the resumption of some further football activity – starting with SPFL Leagues 1 and 2, SWPL1 and clubs still in this season’s Scottish Cup.

“This could only happen alongside enhanced measures to keep everyone safe, including mandatory weekly COVID PCR tests for all players and staff.

“We continue to discuss with the Scottish FA and other stakeholders to ensure football at all levels can resume as soon as it is safe to do so.”

So likely lowland league down will be cancelled 

[Ginaro]

"As soon as it is safe to do so" - does this mean it wasn't safe to begin football in October given there was a 7 day average of 950 cases back then with 6% positivity and both rising? Now we're under 600 and decreasing. 

Hospital numbers are almost double what they were on 10th October 2020, though given the current trend and vaccine effects, good chance sometime next week those will fall to the same number as when the season started.

[Burnieman]

9 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

"As soon as it is safe to do so" - does this mean it wasn't safe to begin football in October given there was a 7 day average of 950 cases back then with 6% positivity and both rising? Now we're under 600 and decreasing. 

Hospital numbers are almost double what they were on 10th October 2020, though given the current trend and vaccine effects, good chance sometime next week those will fall to the same number as when the season started.

Wasn't it said a few weeks back that any return to football would be staged?  So I see this as the first stage.  Whether the second stage will mean football this season, or we have to wait to next, who knows.

[Dev]

45 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

"As soon as it is safe to do so" - does this mean it wasn't safe to begin football in October given there was a 7 day average of 950 cases back then with 6% positivity and both rising? Now we're under 600 and decreasing. 

Hospital numbers are almost double what they were on 10th October 2020, though given the current trend and vaccine effects, good chance sometime next week those will fall to the same number as when the season started.

It's an interesting choice of words by Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Public Health and Sport:

“We are aware of the importance of football, at all levels, to many people in Scotland and I’m happy that we have been able to work closely with the Scottish FA to allow the resumption of some further football activity – starting with SPFL Leagues 1 and 2, SWPL1 and clubs still in this season’s Scottish Cup.

“This could only happen alongside enhanced measures to keep everyone safe, including mandatory weekly COVID PCR tests for all players and staff.

“We continue to discuss with the Scottish FA and other stakeholders to ensure football at all levels can resume as soon as it is safe to do so.”

 

In order to come up with any important policy statement, or changes, there has to be a routine "Risk Assessment". I don't doubt that preparing one here would have been difficult, given the responsibilities involved. However, where is it? Anybody know where to find these things on the SP web site?

I am curious as to how the link is made between organised outdoor activities ( not just football below the SPFL)  and new Covid variants. 

Is anyone aware of any such link which has been in the media? If not, maybe the SG is just playing safe based upon advice from their Advisers? If so, where is this Advice? Where can it be found on the SP web site. Any ideas? 

If the Risk Assessment and the Advisers words of advice are not available there is a real concern as to why that should be. Why the secrecy?

[AlanCamelonfan]

1 hour ago, Dev said:

It's an interesting choice of words by Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Public Health and Sport:

“We are aware of the importance of football, at all levels, to many people in Scotland and I’m happy that we have been able to work closely with the Scottish FA to allow the resumption of some further football activity – starting with SPFL Leagues 1 and 2, SWPL1 and clubs still in this season’s Scottish Cup.

“This could only happen alongside enhanced measures to keep everyone safe, including mandatory weekly COVID PCR tests for all players and staff.

“We continue to discuss with the Scottish FA and other stakeholders to ensure football at all levels can resume as soon as it is safe to do so.”

 

In order to come up with any important policy statement, or changes, there has to be a routine "Risk Assessment". I don't doubt that preparing one here would have been difficult, given the responsibilities involved. However, where is it? Anybody know where to find these things on the SP web site?

I am curious as to how the link is made between organised outdoor activities ( not just football below the SPFL)  and new Covid variants. 

Is anyone aware of any such link which has been in the media? If not, maybe the SG is just playing safe based upon advice from their Advisers? If so, where is this Advice? Where can it be found on the SP web site. Any ideas? 

If the Risk Assessment and the Advisers words of advice are not available there is a real concern as to why that should be. Why the secrecy?

Probably from gordon and auldheid