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Former Leicester City League Cup winner and football pundit Robbie Savage has expressed his disbelief in the government ruling out the return of grassroots sport for children until at least December 4th.
He has in particular pointed the finger at the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden, who’s tweet provided ‘inconsistencies’ to previous government policy.
“First, you’ve got the Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that we’re looking to return on the fourth of December, but then you’ve got Oliver Dowden saying last night that we can get grassroots sport back ‘when we can’. Straight away there’s a mental impact on youngsters there as there’s no clarity, they haven’t got a goal to when they’re going to return.”
“The second point this week was households mixing, so kids can mix in school yet in his tweet he says that they’re stopping grassroots sport because they want to stop mixing households. It’s nonsensical.”
“I’m all for schools being open and I understand (that a line must be drawn), and if they both were stopped I’d totally get it. But it’s the inconsistency of Mr Dowden’s Tweet last night to say to stop households mixing (that I don’t get).”
Savage himself is heavily involved in grassroots football, having come out of retirement to feature for Stockport Town this season. He is also part of the board at the newly formed Macclesfield FC.
“What we’ve been doing as an official grassroots club, every time a player enters they have their temperature checked, everything is sanitised, it’s track and traced – and there hasn’t been a single case of COVID in the 23 matches I’ve been involved in.”
The worry across England now is the impact on the overall health of the next generation of children coming through grassroots sport.
“Tell me why the inconsistency of allowing school to continue when your risking the mental and physical wellbeing of children who need this activity to stimulate themselves on the weekend. I feel genuinely sorry for this generation of kids who can’t play, and not just football, all sports.”
“I’ve told you what I think, and I just don’t get it.”
The government looks set to extend the blanket discouraging and banning of grassroots sport for the foreseeable future during lockdown in England, which could extend as far as the Christmas period.
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