Response to Lancashire FA decision

The Lancashire FA has now issued a statement on its difficult decision to cancel all organised grassroots football for children and adults in eight areas of the county.

The decision was made late on Friday 4 December taking into account Public Health advice, and is intended to keep everyone safe – players, coaches, parents – at a critical time in our fight against Coronavirus.

Read the Lancashire FA’s explanation of their decision.

The decision means that grassroots training, matches and tournaments have all been cancelled until early 2021. Professional football games are not affected.

This cancellation applies to eight areas of Lancashire including Blackburn with Darwen.

The other local authority areas affected are: Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale and South Ribble.

The decision comes after discussions involving the Directors of Public Health for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.

Prof Dominic Harrison, Director of Public Health for Blackburn with Darwen, explained:

We were a part of the decision-making process, together with Public Health England, offering the Lancashire FA advice on how to help us control community transmission of the virus by reducing social contact.

It follows similar decisions by local football associations in other parts of the country that are facing similar challenges.

Whilst the rates for COVID-19 in Blackburn with Darwen have been coming down rapidly during most of the lockdown, we have seen a significant rise in the rates again in the under 30s age groups over the last week.

In order to minimise the risk of household transmission over the five day seasonal relaxation of the COVID rules, we need to take all the measures we can to avoid entering the period from 23 to 27 December with rising rates.

We hope to work closely with Lancashire FA over the coming weeks to see how we can open up grassroots football as soon as possible in the new year.