Opening of outdoor sports at Roehampton Club

Dear Member,

As you are no doubt aware the Prime Minister spoke yesterday evening (10 May) saying:

‘And from this Wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise.
You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own household.
You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them.’

DCMS has issued a tweet today saying that sports like golf, tennis, basketball, fishing can take place keeping to social distancing rules.
https://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/11986138/coronavirus-golf-courses-in-england-can-reopen-tennis-basketball-to-be-allowed-among-households

However we are lacking clear and definitive guidance from the respective sports’ governing bodies/DCMS on the operational detail as the Prime Minister’s announcement has caught everybody by surprise.

In addition, it has been suggested that only those clubs that can prove they can operate safely in accordance with the guidance may reopen. In the meantime we are speedily working on trying to open golf and tennis this week ,and subject to more detailed Government /Governing body guidelines, I will be submitting a phased plan to the Board’s Crisis Management Committee (CMC) later this afternoon (Monday 11th May).

Once approved by the Board, guidelines on which sports we can open, when, and in what format will be published tomorrow (Tuesday 12th May).

Thank you for your patience.

Yours sincerely,

Marc Newey
Chief Executive | marc.newey@roehamptonclub.co.uk