Covid in Wales: Rules easing welcomed by sports clubson January 15, 2022 at 7:24 am

Covid rules in Wales have eased, allowing up to 500 people to gather for outdoor events from Saturday.

The rule change is being welcomed by football clubs and the running charity Parkrun.

Karl Johnson, co-director of Pontypridd Parkrun, said: “We may have an influx from other Parkruns and there is always a boost in January from people making new year resolutions.”

The Welsh government said it hoped to remove all restrictions by 10 February.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s planned run in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Mr Johnson added: “We’re really looking forward to be back, we had communication from Parkrun head office to be ready to re-start with short notice over these coming weeks.”

The at Ynysangharad War Memorial Parkrun will start at 09:00 GMT with volunteers arriving from 07:00.

“We’ve been really lucky we have a group of trusted volunteers who are able to turn up and we’ve had fantastic support from the council to make sure it goes ahead,” he said.

Since the group began, their highest turn out has been 491 people, with about 250 since previous lockdowns last year.

Mr Johnson does not expect the run to exceed the 500 people limit and has assured runners that limits will be adhered to.

“We’ve done everything we can to make sure people are safe, making sure people can spread out and limited contact when registering on site.

“It’s been disappointing that we’ve had to cancel over the last two weeks, I know runners have gone over the border to other runs instead. However we’re ready and raring to go now we can.”

Along with Parkrun, football clubs can now welcome more spectators again.

Ynyshir Albions Football Club are set to face Ton Pentre AFC at The Oval, Ynyshir, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in their first match of the year in the Ardal South West League.

Club treasurer Cei Mason said: “We’re really pleased. Match day income is absolutely vital for us to be able to run the club.

“As the cost of running a grassroots club continues to rise, I’m sure many other clubs in Wales will feel the same way and will welcome this news,” he added.

Despite the changes he said they may not have the maximum capacity of 500 fans allowed.

“The news broke a little late for us to communicate the increased capacity to all our followers. We’d hoping to get back up those sort of numbers in the coming weeks,” Mr Mason said.

Ahead of the game the club need to make some changes to make sure safety rules such as social distancing is followed.

Mr Mason said: “We have opted to change into our kit at a location outside to the ground to give the away team the whole run of the building to adhere to social distance rules.

“It’s not ideal but we’re happy to accommodate to ensure the game goes ahead.”

While sports clubs have welcomed the lifting of rules, it has also seen a cautious welcome from others.

Student Laura Ann Moulding, 25, from Cardiff, was diagnosed with ME in January 2020 and has restricted her social contacts to her family and her boyfriend’s family.

“I’m sticking to social bubbles as best as I can, because I’m afraid of catching Covid because I’m quite vulnerable to it and it can me a lot worse than I already am with my pre-existing condition so I’m a bit nervous,” she said.

“I know the restrictions were going to be eased some day so it’s one of those things I’ve been preparing for, for us to be returning to some sort of normality again but I still have overwhelming anxiety of it I’m going to catch something then I could be 10 times worse.

“That fear doesn’t subside no matter how I look at it, so I am pleased I will be able to see more people but I’ve still got that fear inside me.

“If cases are going down then it’s a positive move forwards to ease restrictions but personally I know a lot of people like myself who are similar to me who still feel vulnerable.

“I’m still going to be taking my lateral flow test every time I go to uni or every time I see family or friends just to be on the safe side and I know that my family will at least do the same thing.

“Even going to the grocery shop it’s quite fearful.”

The Royal College of Physicians in Wales also believes now is the right time to ease restrictions.

Vice-president Olwen Williams said: “The college perspective on this is that we welcome the fact that this is a phased change to the restrictions over a period of time.

“Obviously, for ourselves within that work within medicine work within acute medicine and in the community the winter is always a very difficult time.

“Bearing in mind that we went into the pandemic with a reduced number of doctors and healthcare staff.

“Actually that in itself would have been a challenge, but two years in a row, having to cope with both the winter winter pressures, the backlog from planned care, but also Covid, it has been quite challenging.

“Of course we are all very tired, we all looking forward to some sort of relief to get on with training and actually delivering the best care we can for our patients,” she said.

The easing of rules will also mean that the Six Nations Rugby can be held in front of a full Principality Stadium.

Ms Williams said: “As regards large sporting events, we did have four events in the autumn and there was not a considerable rise directly from them.

“People are quite sensible and you know they will have limited contact. Of course people can actually wear masks and keep a safe distance when they’re attending the events and that’s really very important still.”