University indoor sports will be exempt from the Rule of 6

It has been announced that indoor sports for students across Higher Education in England are exempt from the ‘Rule of 6’ with the specific clarifications outlined below.

Whilst the exemption does not currently cover recreational use, i.e. 5-a-side bookings for groups of friends, there is a strong opportunity to broaden intra-mural activity and we will update you in due course about how we will be supporting this.

The specific detail around this exemption is as follows:

• Over-18s are only covered by the exemption for sport for educational purposes but this does include intra-mural, training and inter-university competitions.
• This includes anything related to the curriculum/sport-related degree programmes.
• Playing for school/college/university teams is covered by the exemption both at an intra-mural and inter-university level. Communication on Term One activity, including localised leagues for indoor sport, will be shared later today.
• The exemption does not apply to all activity that happens to take place on the university site. i.e. playing for a university team is exempt, but another football club/league that happens to use the university facilities or is loosely associated would not fall under the exemption. It could still go ahead, but the rule of 6 would apply as with other indoor team sport.
• Over-18s and under-18s (who are students at the university) can play together without restrictions only where this falls under the education exemption (as set out above). If not, the under-18s are exempt, but if an over-18 joins, the rule of six applies to everyone.
• Whilst inter-university competition is covered by the exemption, consideration should be given as to how best to minimise exposure by avoiding unnecessary travel and mixing with teams from other institutions. Following NGB guidelines will assist in this area.

Find out more here.

Source: BUCS