The secretary of the Midland Schoolboys League, the governing body for juvenile soccer in Laois, has penned a letter to TDs in Laois, Offaly and Westmeath asking for their support to force the government to allow children to play matches.
Ten days ago, Portarlington native Derek Collins issued an open letter to all stakeholders where he outlined his fears that without the prospect of matches, children will be less inclined to train and their health will suffer as a result.
And such was the response to that, that Mr Collins feels compelled to keep pressing the issue forward and has now turned directly to TDs in the aforementioned counties looking for their support.
Last night, the FAI and the government performed a small U-turn by allowing the League of Ireland at U-17 and U-19 level resume – in line with the resumption of minor and U-20 GAA.
And Junior Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers, indicated on Twitter that broader discussions all getting as many people as possible back playing sport would take place shortly.
He said: “Looking ahead to 2021, the Government wants to ensure that sport can play the maximum possible role in sustaining people’s physical and mental wellbeing and consequently their general morale.
“I have written to all national governing bodies of sport to engage urgently over the coming weeks with sporting bodies to consider all available evidence and data for the purposes of informing the development of tailored proposals and approaches for future mitigation measures.
“It is envisaged that such proposals would enable the Government to review and potentially adapt the suite of public health measures currently applying to sport, competition and exercise activities for many of our indoor and outdoor sports.”
But speaking on OffTheBall yesterday, Midlands secretary Collins said that, in light of the decision to allow soccer at ‘elite level’, he would like to know what evidence the decision not to allow all children to resume playing was based upon.
He has asked all TDs to lobby the Minister for Health and ask him three questions which are contained in the letter below:
As a result of the reaction and backlash of our Stakeholders (Secretaries, Managers, Coaches, parents & Guardians) I have been instructed to write to all our TDs in Offaly, Laois and Westmeath.
We would ask all our local politicians to help with getting our kids back playing football games in a safe and healthy environment.
We would like all our public representatives to ensure that grassroots soccer players are treated the same as any other sporting bodies.
As you are all aware the moved from level 5 to level 3 has been welcomed in many quarters but sadly once again the needs of children involved in sport have been ignored.
The kids playing underage grassroots football (soccer) in the Midland Schoolboy/girls League, which we have just over 4,500 players, both boys and girls, from under 8s to under 16s, cannot go back to playing football (soccer) matches.
While it is good to be still be able to go to training, under the guidelines at present, training is non-contact – this is no substitute for children playing football matches.
As a result of no matches being played the numbers of kids training has dropped off across all clubs within our area.
While access to regular training is welcome, there is simply no substitute for children playing football matches. This will result in kids returning to their online games and going without exercise which in the long run will turn into health problems further down the line.
We in the Midlands Schoolboy/girls league are now without games since early October (going into our 10th week) and before this both counties, Laois and Offaly, were on lockdown at the start of our season which was early September. We played matches under both the HSE and government guidelines.
All our clubs purchased all the covid-19 hand sanitizer and had them installed in their grounds. They purchased all the other equipment to sanitized footballs goalpost etc etc.
We had no spectators attending any matches. Both teams had to send in a list of players and one parent (because all our kids are under 18 years of age) who had travelled to the venue of the game.
We as a league and our clubs have upheld the most stringent restrictions for all training and match that have being played since last August without any problems.
In fact, there has not been any covid-19 cases from any Schoolboys or schoolgirls football games within Ireland to date. There has been no recognition of the tremendous and costly work being done by Midlands Schoolboy-girls clubs in fighting against covid-19 on a daily basis.
The FAI informed all leagues on Thursday that, based on Government advice, there would be no immediate return to play for underage teams, at all levels.
In previous covid-19 lockdown there was football matches for under 13s and under 15s boys under 17s boys and girls and under 19s boys in the national league which was deemed elite football by the FAI.
Elite football runs side by sided with grassroots football, the FAI oversee the national league and the SFAI run grassroots football. While at the same time all grassroots football was cancelled.
Both boys and girls at the same age groups that are deemed elite or grassroots players sit in the same classroom, they can meet up and go shopping or now can go to the gym or go swimming not in the sea but indoors in a pool (How social distance works there is beyond me).
We as a league are extremely disappointed that kids in our area cannot play football matches, remember these are kids from 8 years of age upward that want to play games.
There are no celebrations or marching through the town after a game kids are collected by their guardians and go home.
We would like to point out that the GAA were given the green light to restart its provincial minor and U-20 competitions as the Country moved to Level 3 of the Living with COVID Plan which is good news for the GAA players but why can they play matches, and our kids cannot play matches out in the fresh air?
We would like all politicians who were elected in our area from all parties to canvas the health minster to answer the following questions:
• Why our children cannot play matches?
• What is the science behind the reason matches can be played?
• Who made the decision that matches in football cannot be played the government? NPHET, HSE or the FAI.
Regards,
Derek Collins
Secretary of the Midlands Schoolboy/girls League
SEE ALSO – Laois minor footballers confirm captain, vice-captain and 35-man panel ahead of Leinster opener
The post Midlands League secretary sends letter to local TDs requesting support appeared first on Laois Today.
source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/12/09/midlands-league-secretary-sends-letter-to-local-tds-requesting-support/
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