This time, it didn’t even matter what Squash England said we were allowed to do.
As soon as the government ruled that Newcastle would fall into the new, tougher Tier Three category of Covid restrictions, then Northern would have to stay closed for business.
In our case, closing the bar and hospitality facilities has meant all our permanent staff are furloughed, so there is no employee allowed to open up the building and keep the squash courts ready for any possible action.
Several committee members were keen to volunteer to mind the shop themselves, taking shifts to open up the club so the extremely limited amount of squash allowed could still take place.
It’s a nice idea, but this doesn’t seem practical at the moment for a number of significant insurance and security issues. Northern is now a major business so it’s not just a matter of getting the keys.
However, we will keep looking at any way we might be able to open up the courts in the near future. Not that many of us are missing much. England Squash are still confirming with Sport England what play will be allowed under the tier system. Limited junior coaching can survive in Tier Three so it’s a big disappointment we can’t keep the next generation involved for the moment. There will be an announcement at 10.00 am on Monday morning as to whether solo practice and same household play might resume in Tier Three. You can get (some what slowly emerging) updates on englandsquash.com.
That’s all academic for us though at present. The inability to supervise the building with approved staff has trumped all other considerations.
The next hope for squash in any form to return would be if the city is moved back into Tier Two which would allow the club to open for the sale of drinks alongside a “substantial meal”. Then staff could come out of furlough and open up the building. Under Tier Two, most members would probably get the chance to play Sides within a squash bubble.
That’s about all there is to say, unfortunately
Stay fit, stay safe everybody.
