Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson says professional sports will be able to resume domestically under COVID-19 Alert Level 2 with the necessary public health measures in place.

“Moving to Alert Level 2 continues to expand the opportunities for sport and recreation and reintroduces the opportunity for competitive sport – both at a local and professional level.

“Obviously, the paramount concern is that a return to competitive sport is done safely. This means ensuring there are systems in place to implement public health measures such as contact tracing and hygiene requirements to create a safe environment,” Grant Robertson said.

This will mean some modifications to training, play and competition will be necessary, and Sport NZ is working with the major sporting codes and WorkSafe on how these are put into practice. The rules around mass gatherings still apply, so sports will be played at empty stadiums.

Investec Super Rugby and the ANZ Premiership Netball League have already confirmed their intention to resume domestic competition at Alert Level 2 and are working through what a return to training and competition will look like.

“Some sports will be able to return to play more quickly than others while the necessary health requirements, modifications and restrictions on non-essential inter-regional travel are worked through.

“Sports bodies are putting in a lot of work to get the pro-sport leagues going. But let me be clear that competitions will only start when all the public health guidelines are met, so we will continue to support these sports as they work through the necessary requirements to resume play safely.”
 

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