The new tightened coronavirus rules announced in the House of Commons today by Prime Minister Boris Johnson spell bad news for five-a-side teams who play their sport indoors.
The PM announced that indoor sport will no longer be exempt from the rule of six - which applies across parts of the UK (with the exception of Greater Manchester, most of Lancashire, Merseyside, Halton and Warrington - which have local lockdowns).
From Thursday, people who want to play indoor adult team sports - like five-a-side football - won't be able to.
If they flout the rules, they face being fined a minimum of £200 (a doubling of the previous £100 fines).
The rule also applies to indoor basketball and netball. And potentially, badminton, if it involves more than six people gathering.
There's further bad news for sports fans, as a planned return of spectators to sports venues will now not go ahead from October 1. Mr Johnson said the spread of the virus was also affecting the ability to reopen business conferences and exhibitions.
Conservative former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) raised the financial situation of sport in a question to the PM.
She reeled off a list of sports adding they “are in a perilous situation due to spectators not being able to return and venues unable to host income-raising events such as conferences”.
She said: “Sport and all it directly and indirectly involves cannot continue to face these kind of losses.
"So given today’s announcement which pauses the return of spectators, will the PM elaborate on his comments regarding a financial support package to ensure that it isn’t left decimated after the pandemic.”
Mr Johnson said: “(She) is absolutely right to draw attention to the huge importance of sport to our national economy and to our well being and that’s why (Oliver Dowden) is now working flat out with the Premier League and others to identify ways in which we can keep these clubs going, we can support sport at all levels throughout the pandemic.
"And one of the things that we’re not doing, as she will appreciate today, is we’re not stopping outdoor physical exercise, we’re not stopping team sports outside.
"We want that to continue, but that’s why it’s vital that we enforce the package of measures that we have outlined today.”
