Category: Rules

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 16/12/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 16/12/2020

I hope you and you families are continuing to stay safe and well.

You will, no doubt, have seen the Welsh Government’s (WG) announcement today of the introduction of the “Alert Level 4” restrictions covering the whole of Wales from Monday 28th December.

The Government’s Coronavirus Control Plan: Alert Levels in Wales, shows how the different Levels affect Outdoor Activities and Sport. Level 4 means that organised outdoor activities and sports are NOT permitted.

This means that all Clubs MUST NOT meet for organised play while we remain at Alert Level 4.

Organised Activities and Sports

 

The WG advice can be found here (and there is a link to this on our COVID-19 page.

We will issue a further update as soon as we have it.

 

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

Robert Pugh

National President.

WPA PLAYING CALENDAR – WE’RE BACK!

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Playing Calendar Updated

03/11/2020

I hope you and you families are continuing to stay safe and well.

You may have seen in yesterday’s announcement from the First Minister that outdoor gatherings of up to 30 people will be allowed again from Monday 9th November.

Coupled with the lifting of travel restrictions WITHIN Wales, this means we have decided to commence competitive play, as we’d previously said we would do if possible.

The WPA Playing Calendar has now been updated with the addition of 2 National events – the National Mixed Doubles has been scheduled for 15 November, and the National Precision Shooting (Men and Ladies) for the weekend after, 22nd.

Please note – the Venues for all these events are still under review and will be confirmed as soon as possible.

In addition, we are intending to run the first 2 Assessment events, as we’ve done in previous years, to find Teams to compete in the 2021 World and European Championships. Initially, this will be for the Men’s teams, with the Ladies teams to follow (this is because the Men’s competitions are earlier in the 2021 Calendar than the Ladies – so there’s a little more “breathing space” for them). It is still our intention to run these as early as possible in order to give the qualifying teams as much chance as possible to play together in 2021.

The updated Playing Calendar can be found here.

The WPA 2021 Playing Calendar is currently being drafted and we hope to have that published in the coming days.

Entries to the National competitions are welcomed using the appropriate online form here.

Entries to the Men’s Assessment Qualifying Series are welcomed using the appropriate online form here.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ENTRIES MUST NOW BE PAID EITHER BY BANK TRANSFER OR CHEQUE IN ADVANCE OR BY CONTACTLESS/CARD PAYMENT ON THE DAY. CASH PAYMENT WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED. 

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

 

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 21/10/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 21/10/2020

I hope you and you families are continuing to stay safe and well.

You will, no doubt, have now seen the Welsh Government’s (WG) announcement of a “firebreak” lockdown covering the whole of Wales from 6pm on Friday 23rd October until Monday 9th November 2020.

We have been advised by Sport Wales (SW) that during this period, all organised sport and facilities will be paused. This means that ALL our affiliated Clubs MUST remain closed.

In addition, the WG advice is very clear that, although exercise is permitted, and even encouraged, it MUST be local – starting and ending at home, and there must be NO gatherings between households. This means that, even if you live within walking-distance of a nearby playing area, you MUST NOT meet with anyone from outside your household.

The WG advice states:

  • People must stay at home, except for very limited purposes, such as for exercise.

  • People must not visit other households or meet other people they do not live with either indoors and outdoors

  • No gatherings will be allowed outdoors, such as Halloween or fireworks/Bonfire night or other organised activities

The full WG announcement can be found here.

The SW advice states:

The First Minister has announced a firebreak lockdown to take place between Friday 23rd October (from 6pm) and Monday 9th November.

The rules which impact sport: 

You should exercise locally 

  • Exercise should be undertaken locally – from home or as close as possible to the home. In general this should not involve people driving to a location away from home for this purpose.

Pause on organised sport and facilities

  • All organised sport and facilities will be paused during the Welsh circuit breaker, including golf and tennis clubs.

No limits to frequency or length of exercise

  • You can leave home as often as you like to exercise as long as you do so from home and alone or with members of your household (and/or a carer).

The WG FAQ page relating to the “firebreak” can be found here.

The EC will continue to monitor the WG and SW advice and will provide an update as soon as we are able.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

 

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 24/09/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 24/09/2020

I hope you and you families are continuing to stay safe and well.

You may have seen in today’s news that the UK Government has now launched it’s long-awaited NHS COVID-19 track and trace app for England & Wales for mobile phones.

Amongst other features, this allows the user to scan a QR code at any premises/venue/event they may be attending.

The UK Government has also released details of downloading, printing and using QR codes. These can be downloaded by Clubs or event organisers to allow people to scan using the NHS app.

The WPA Exec would encourage all its members who are able to download and use the mobile phone app.

In addition, we would encourage all Clubs and event organisers to download and use a QR Code for players to scan when they arrive at the venue/event.

When WPA-organised competitions return, we intend to make use of this facility and will produce a new QR code for each event (this will leave host Clubs free to use their own QR code for their own members.

Our Guidelines for Clubs and Players have been updated to reflect this, and can be found on our COVID-19 Webpage. The link to the UK Government website to obtain a QR code is in the Guidance for Clubs and on the COVID-19 webpage.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

 

 

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT: WPA NATIONAL EVENTS POSTPONED

WPA NATIONAL EVENTS POSTPONED.

With the latest news from the Welsh Government (WG), and yesterday’s announcement of a further 4 areas of South Wales put into a lockdown state, the WPA EC feels it has no choice but to postpone the National events that were scheduled to be played in the next few weeks.

These were:
National Precision Shooting: Women & Men
National Mixed Doubles
National Singles: Women
National Singles: Men

Although this is regrettable, we hope our members understand that this decision was not taken lightly, but was done-so with everyone’s health, safety and well-being in the forefront of our minds.

We will continue to monitor the situation and we wish to assure our members that, when the circumstances allow we will look to reschedule as many of these events as we are able.

Although the WG advice continues to allow groups of up to 30 to meet outdoors for organised activities (subject to the same guidelines as we have published previously), and we would encourage all members to support their local clubs if they wish to continue to play, we must remind members that travel into or out of a lockdown area is only for essential purposes – and playing sports does not fall into that category.

We also understand that this is a difficult time for Clubs who may be missing out on some income that they rely on from hosting competitions, running open-days, etc.

If Clubs are struggling financially, we would like to remind you that, as we have previously briefed out, Sport Wales has a Be Active Wales Fund that clubs are encouraged to apply to for assistance.

Details can be found here: https://www.sport.wales/beactivewalesfund/

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

Kind regards
Bob
Bob Pugh
National President

WPA NATIONAL DOUBLES – MEN – CHANGE OF VENUE & FORMAT OF PLAY

WPA NATIONAL DOUBLES – MEN – CHANGE OF VENUE & FORMAT OF PLAY

Please note that due to circumstances outside the WPA’s control, we have been forced into a last-minute change of venue.

The competition will now be held at Pontyclun RFC.

Please also note that with immediate effect RCT County Borough Council have imposed the wearing of 3-layer face coverings where it is safe to do so, whilst in work, in supermarkets and other indoor or crowded public spaces.

Therefore, please ensure you have the appropriate face-overing with you for using the clubhouse and/or any shops when purchasing food/drinks, etc.

FURTHER DETAILS AT THE RCTCBC WEBSITE HERE.

All other details remain the same.

Please check with your playing partner to confirm that they are aware of this change.

My apologies for any inconvenience caused and my thanks for your patience and cooperation.

Bob Pugh
National President.


Further update:

The Director of Development has asked me to publish the following:

PLAYING FORMAT

Sunday’s playing format will replicate one previously used:

2 x Pools of 5 Teams (drawn at random).
Each pool will play a round-robin (byes will be played against the opposite pool team, e.g. the Team in Pool A with a bye will play the Team in Pool B with a bye in the same round).
All Pool games will be timed at 50mins plus 1-end. This will allow time in between rounds to clean scoreboards and circles.

After the Pool rounds, the top-2 Teams in each Pool will progress to Semi-Finals (Winner Pool A v R-U Pool B & Winner Pool B v R-U Pool A). These games MAY be timed – depending on time at their start.

The winners of the Semi Finals will progress to the Final, with the runners-up playing 3/4 play-off. These games will NOT be timed.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 21/08/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 21/08/2020

I hope you and you families are continuing to stay safe and well.

In an effort to return to some competitive play, a “trial” event was held last Sunday, 16th August, with 8 doubles playing in accordance with the WPA’s published guidance.

We received some invaluable feedback both on the day and subsequently, for which we are very grateful.

The EC met yesterday and reviewed the outcome of this trial event. We have waited until today to publish our findings and update our Guidelines in order to see if the Welsh Government’s latest review contained anything that may affect our decisions (for example, we are aware that the WSA had submitted a recommendation to the WG to increase the size of organised outdoor gatherings, and reduce the 2m social-distancing regulation to 1m+).

As a result of our findings and the subsequent discussions, we have decided that we are happy to allow Clubs to make use of all their pistes PROVIDED they have sufficient space at the edges and ends of their playing area to establish “safe havens”, where players can stand while their opponents are playing. Please note, however, that if there is insufficient space to create these “safe havens”, the current guidance which only permits play on every-other piste MUST be retained.

Our Guidelines for Clubs have been updated to reflect this, and contain an explanatory diagram, and can be found on our COVID-19 Webpage.

The Executive has contacted all Clubs to ask for their availability to host a number of National events and will be publishing a Calendar in the very near future.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

 

 

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 06/08/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 06/08/2020

I hope you and you families are staying safe and well.

Following our attendance of the Welsh Sports Association (WSA) call on Tuesday morning the EC met on Wednesday 5th August.

Full details of the Guidelines, along with the WG FAQ document and the UK Government’s advice on cleaning in non-healthcare situations can be found on the WPA’s COVID-19 Advice and Information page here.

As a result of studying the relevant sections of the WG Guidelines, we have updated our own guidelines, which are also published on the above page.

To emphasise a number of points:

  • As well as outdoor gatherings of UP-TO 30 people taking place for “organised and supervised” activities, the WG now permits outdoor gatherings of up-to 30 people for social purposes. Please be aware that these social gatherings MUST still adhere to the 2m social-distancing instructions.

  • The WSA & WG have confirmed that this “social” gathering can be applied to spectators, and is in addition to the organised gathering of people taking part in a sporting activity:

    “Re organised outdoor events, if there are people who are socially distant from the field of play – and from each other – and their presence doesn’t obstruct or interfere with the safety arrangements planned by the organisers for the event, then they would not count towards the 30 total. Here is what our guidance says on that point:

    Spectators

    Supporters and other spectators should be limited at this stage to only those persons who need to attend, e.g. parents or guardians of children who require their attendance for health or safeguarding reasons.  All spectators are to remain socially and physically distanced from each other and from the area of play whilst attending events, including accessing and leaving the venue, use of any facilities and whilst watching game play.

    Anyone on the area of play, or closer to it than social distancing rules would permit, will count towards the total number people considered to the gathered for the organised outdoor activity, where a limit of no more than 30 persons applies.“

  • The WPA has decided that spectators should still be discouraged from attending any organised event, but should any bystanders be present, they MUST be a minimum of 2m from the edge of the playing area. Should an organised event take place at an “open” area, the organisers should make sure a barrier or other marker is in place at least 2m from the edge of the playing area.

The Executive also moved to draft an updated playing calendar with a limited number of events which will be further refined and published in the near future.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 18/07/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 18/07/2020

I hope you and you families are staying safe and well.

As I stated in my previous update, the Welsh Government (WG) announced a further relaxation of the rules, including a resumption of outdoors activities from Monday 13th July.

Following our attendance of the Welsh Sports Association (WSA) call on Monday afternoon the EC met on Tuesday 14th July and then on Wednesday 15th received an updated copy of the detailed Guidance from the WG.

Full details of the Guidelines, allow with the WG FAQ document and the UK Government’s advice on cleaning in non-healthcare situations can be found on the WPA’s COVID-19 Advice and Information page here.

As a result of studying the relevant sections of the WG Guidelines, we have updated our own guidelines, which are also published on the above page.

To emphasise a number of points:

  • Gatherings of UP-TO 30 people can now take place for “organised and supervised” activities. It is important to understand the meaning of this, as it is the responsibility of the Association (for a WPA-organised event) or the Club to ensure these conditions are met and adhered to. This requires the appointment of a non-playing nominated responsible person, who MUST record the contact details of EVERYONE present. The responsible person must also ensure 2m social-distancing is adhered to.

  • Please be aware that the 30-people maximum limit does NOT just mean 30 players, but includes the responsible person as well as any other officials (Umpire, Marker, etc).

  • Any informal gathering of people (i.e. one that is not organised and supervised) must adhere to the previous guidelines of no more than 2 households (or extended households).

There is another meeting of the WSA’s Outdoor Sport Phased Return Planning Group on Monday 20th, so there may be a further update to these instructions after that.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – UPDATE 10/07/2020

WPA ANNOUNCEMENT

Novel Coronavirus

(COVID-19)

UPDATE – 10/07/2020

I hope you and you families are staying safe and well.

As you will, no doubt, be aware, the Welsh Government (WG) has today a further relaxation of the rules, including a resumption of outdoors activities from Monday 13th July.

“The Welsh Government is also making changes to the regulations to allow larger gatherings of up to 30 people outdoors only where these are organised and supervised by a responsible person for sports and other leisure activities and classes.

This will allow sports and leisure activities, such as fitness and dance classes to take place outdoors.“

The WPA will be joining a WSA call on Monday afternoon and the EC will meet following that and issue a further statement as soon as possible afterwards.

The WG’s latest press-release can be found here.

In the meantime, we appreciate your ongoing patience, and hope you and your families stay healthy.

REMEMBER:

#KEEP WALES SAFE

 

Robert Pugh

National President.

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