The Camanachd Association competitions committee and Board will meet later in January to confirm plans for the start of the shinty season in March 2022. Part of the agenda will consider the most recent update from the First Minister to the Scottish Parliament in early January that confirmed that no new protective measures are being introduced however the existing restrictions outlined prior to Christmas are likely to remain in place until the 17th January 2022 with a further review to take place at that time.

Existing restrictions relate to areas such as spectating, hospitality and indoor adult contact sport (u18 indoor contact sport continues to be permitted). Scottish Government continue to prioritise the vaccine and booster programme, and profiled the need for business’s and shinty clubs clubs to continue to implement mitigation measures. The First Minister asked that individuals continue to follow Scottish Government guidance and limit indoor social gatherings to 3 households.

Strategic Framework

A revised strategic framework will be published in the coming weeks as Scottish Government seek to manage covid risks moving forward including any potential new variants.

All of Scotland continues to be ‘Beyond Level 0’, but the Scottish Government retain the option of putting in place local measures and travel restrictions to manage any future virus outbreaks.

Return to Sport Physical Activity Guidance 15 December 2021

The main points for shinty clubs are outlined below.

  1. Isolation – effective from midnight (5 January 2022)
  • Positive cases are advised to self-isolate for 10 days. However, if the individual returns two consecutive negative LFD tests taken at least 24 hours apart with the first test no earlier than day 6 they may end isolation before the end of the 10 day period if they have no fever.
  • Close contacts who are fully vaccinated, having received 3 doses of the vaccination (plus 14 days) or are aged under 18 years and 4 months, can take daily LFD tests for 7 days instead of isolation – provided the tests are negative and they remains without symptoms. If someone has not received 3 doses of the vaccination, they will need to book a PCR test and even if this is a negative result, they will need to isolate for 10 days.
  1. Testing – effective from midnight (5 January 2022)
  • Where Covid-19 symptoms are present individuals should continue to seek a PCR test as is currently the case.
  • Where no covid-19 symptoms are present but individuals test positive via a lateral flow device (LFD) test they are now not advised to get a PCR test to confirm infection but to follow isolation advice as it applies to them as a positive case and to report their test so that contact tracing can be implemented. Further information is available at Report your coronavirus (COVID-19) test result | NHS inform.

There is an exception for people who may be eligible for the Self-Isolation Support Grant who are advised to take a PCR test to ensure they can confirm their infection to be potentially eligible for financial support.

  1. Financial Support
  • The significant impact on business is understood and a further £55m of support is being provided for areas within the economy including £5m for sport. We do not yet have the details for this but understand it will likely be to support ‘loss of income’ for spectator sports.
  • We also understand that Scottish Government is providing £113m of additional support for the hospitality and leisure sectors impacted by the necessary additional public health measures is being provided via local authorities who will contact individual businesses directly and are working to undertake eligibility and fraud checks with payments starting in January.
  1. Travel
  • Additional changes to travel restrictions including testing are being reviewed with further updates to be provided once Ministers have made final decisions.

Additional measures highlighted prior Christmas include:

  1. Indoor Contact Sport (adults)
  • Professional and/or elite indoor contact sport with approved plans and protocols in place may continue with training and competition.  For further information regarding professional/elite sport please refer to the relevant section in Return to Competitions and Events .
  • All other indoor (adult) contact sport and physical activity should not take place during this period.
  1. Large Scale Shinty Events

Spectator and participation events can go ahead if COVID guidance is followed and 1m physical distancing measures are put in place and attendances limited to:

  • Indoors – 100 standing, 200 seated
  • Outdoors – 500 people

Further guidance relating to event organisation is available at Coronavirus advice for events | VisitScotland.org

  1. Indoor Hospitality & Leisure Venues (including Gyms and Leisure Centres)
  • 1m physical distancing should be implemented in gym and leisure centre settings.  For classes limit numbers to ensure physical distancing can be maintained throughout the activity and at control entry/exit points.
  • All indoor hospitality venues should reintroduce physical distancing (1m) between groups (maximum 3 households per group) as well as table service in settings where alcohol is served.  Please refer to Coronavirus (COVID-19): tourism and hospitality sector – gov.scot for further information.
  1. Business Support

The First Minister also confirmed that an additional £275m will be provided in business support on top of the £100m announced last week.  Further information will be published on the Scottish Government website in the coming weeks.