covid-19

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COVID-19 FOOTBALL RULES

Our COVID-19 Football Rules have been established from The FA’s Step 4 Guidance for Grassroots Football, which came into effect on Monday 19th July 2021. 

We encourage all players who use our facilities to read the full guidance and resources on The FA's website below:

FA update on grassroots football ahead of COVID-19 restrictions easing on 19 July (thefa.com) 

Please pay special attention to the NO SPITTING, NO NOSE BLOWING AND NO CHEWING GUM rule. It is not only disgusting but it risks transmitting COVID-19 on our pitch surfaces. 

SUMMARY OF OUR MAIN RULES

⚽️ All players should self assess for any of the COVID-19 symptoms below before playing football here:

- A high temperature (above 37.8 degrees)
- A new continuous cough

- Shortness of breath

- A sore throat

- A loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste

- Feeling generally unwell

- Persistent tiredness

- Been in close contact with/living with a suspected or confimed case of COVID-19 in the previous two weeks

- If you or anyone in your household/bubble are self-isolating whilst waiting for a test or test results for COVID-19

If you have any of the above symptoms then please do not travel to play football and follow all applicable government guidelines. 

⚽️ On-field adaptions for playing football are no longer required.

⚽️ However, spitting or blowing your nose on the pitches, on the boards or through the fence are not allowed and repeat offenders and groups will be banned. 

⚽️ Spitting chewing gum on the pitch, eating food on the pitch and spitting sunflower seeds on to the pitch are also not allowed and repeat offenders and groups will be banned.

The main mode of transmission of the virus is in respiratory secretions hence why spitting and nose blowing are banned when playing. Likewise chewing gum poses a high risk of cross contamination so is banned also. 

⚽️ Please use our Hand Sanitiser stations located outside all 4 pitch gates before, during and after your game. These sanitisers kill the virus and only take a second to use.

⚽️ Touching the rebound boards and crossbars with your hands is discouraged because they are both high contact areas.

⚽️ The sharing of equipment like bibs and gloves should be avoided to limit transmission.

⚽️ We recommend bringing your own ball. However we will still provide two balls per pitch if required. 

⚽️ Handling the ball is how the virus can spread so please sanitise your hands after touching it. If the ball goes over our fences please also get it yourself and use your feet to retrieve it.

⚽️ Centenary Sixes staff are still required to sanitise the goalposts, balls and gate handles in-between groups. Therefore there is a 10 minute sanitising break in-between groups. Please kindly leave the pitch promptly after your game so our staff can begin this task. 

⚽️ To provide a one way system, we ask all players to enter the pitches on the pavement side and to exit the pitches on the grass side. Upon exiting the pitches, we kindly request that all players find a route to leave the park which doesn’t involve walking back around the pitches on the pavement side. This will prevent different groups mixing.

⚽️ On days when it rains badly and the grass side is unsafe to exit, we will inform organisers on the day that players can exit on the pavement side. Groups who are also last on the pitches each day may also leave via the pavement side but are encouraged not to congregate on the pavement after their game but to vacate the area.

⚽️ The gates to our old tennis courts will remain locked at all times so if you are playing on Pitch 2 and kick all footballs over into these courts, please pop over to our office to inform us and a member of staff will quickly kick them back over for you. Do not climb over the fence to retrieve the balls yourself. 

⚽️ We ask groups playing on Pitch 1 to park cars outside the middle park gates on Culver Grove. And groups playing on Pitch 2 to park cars outside the last park gates (towards Kenton) on Culver Grove. This will help prevent groups playing at similar times mixing.

⚽️ Our changing rooms and toilets will continue to be locked at all times but can be used on request by players. Please do not take relief outside or near to the pitches. We advise all players to go to the toilet at home before you arrive and arrive changed and ready to play.

⚽️ Organisers no longer need to send us their player details for NHS Test & Trace. Instead, Centenary Sixes will continue displaying our NHS QR Code outside our pitches and players are encouraged to scan the code on their phones and check-in on the NHS Test and Trace App.

⚽️ If players are unsure about any of our rules please speak to a member of staff. Remember our new office is located next to the pitches. 

⚽️ We kindly ask that organisers pass on all of our COVID-19 Rules to your group before your booking so that everyone can abide by them when you play football here.

A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER..

The last 12 months have been a hugely challenging time for us all so i wanted to say a massive thank you to all of our customers for their fantastic support during this pandemic. Following our COVID-19 Rules is not an easy task and the vast majority of our customers have been fantastic adhering to them. Thank you for helping us create a safe environment here to play football in!

However,  COVID-19 is still amongst us with variants emerging all the time. Therefore we kindly ask all players to continue being careful when playing football here so we can limit the transmission of the virus. Yes contact football is permitted and on field adaptions are no longer required but any of us could have the virus and any of us could catch or pass on the virus at any given moment.

Following our rules will help to reduce the risk of transmission, in particular our rule about no spitting, no nose blowing and no spitting chewing gum on the pitches. We make no apologies for being strict with this rule during this pandemic. Following The FA guidelines and our rules will not only protect your own health but those around you too when you play the beautiful game here at the home of 6-a-side football so please keep up the good work!

Yours in Football

Darragh
Centenary Sixes Founder