Sports clubs in UCD are now required to check the vaccination certs of all those in attendance for all indoor sporting activities and outdoor activities which require the use of dressing rooms. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in suspension of ongoing events and “disciplinary action”.
In an email circulated to sports clubs, UCD Sport stated that ‘failure by a club to implement the vaccination cert and ID verification will result in the club activity being immediately suspended and access to facilities withdrawn.’ These new regulations will take effect from midnight tonight.
The update of regulations came about as a result of revised protocols issued by the Sport Ireland Expert Group. The protocols must be adhered to by all national governing bodies. In these protocols, the expert group states that it ‘strongly recommended that all eligible individuals consider vaccination as a matter of priority. It added that vaccination ‘will maximise the availability of indoor sporting opportunities and the number of participants.’
The guidelines given to UCD sports clubs today were decided in consultation with the UCD Safety, Insurance, Operational Risk and Compliance (SIRC) Office and sports facilities management. These additional requirements on top of Sport Ireland regulations were as a result of ‘the large numbers of members, particularly, in the indoor sports who have been unable to train due to the pod restrictions in place.’ These pod restrictions are the current regulations sports clubs must abide by until midnight tonight.
For indoor sporting activities, as well as the checking of vaccination certs, clubs will continue to be required to facilitate contact tracing by using the booking centre system. Vaccination certs will also need to be checked by UCD sports clubs when visiting clubs arrive to use indoor facilities and changing rooms.
Conor Paterson – Co-Editor
