Angling becomes first sport to resume competition in UK

Fishing will become the first sport to resume competitive action during the coronavirus pandemic, Telegraph Sport can reveal.

Having also been in the first cluster of sports to return on a recreational basis, the Angling Trust have confirmed that their “robust new best practice guidelines” have been agreed by Government and that competitions can begin immediately.

Although elite professional sports can restart from next week - and snooker and horse racing are awaiting final approval for their plans - it makes fishing the first sport in the UK to resume on an organised competitive basis. It is understood that some competitions have already begun today but that the main return to competitive action will be from the weekend.

Separate guidelines have already been published for game, coarse and sea angling competitions, but charter boat fishing is still not compliant under the current regulations due to the potential difficulty with maintaining social distancing. There are one million fishing licence holders in the UK and, on the day after lockdown restrictions were lifted to allow non-competitive angling earlier this month, applications for 21,000 new licences were received.

Martin Salter, the Angling Trust’s head of policy and the former MP for Reading, told Telegraph Sport that rod licence sales were "sky-rocketing" during lockdown and that they had made three key changes to usual competition rules in order to satisfy the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The first is that the draw for ‘pegs’ - the position of anglers on the riverbank - cannot be done from a hat and must either be made online or by a single person.

The second is that special weighing nets have been designed so that they are in a self-supporting sling and anglers can step forward and place their catch into the net without touching it. This means that the scalesman, who is responsible for measuring the weight of the fish, can then step forward whilst remaining socially distanced to carry out his work. Cash prizes must also be distributed online rather than in person.

Salter said that competitions had resumed with immediate effect at clubs and fisheries. “We’re delighted - Sport England and the DCMS have been really helpful and supportive,” he said. “They are not in the business of trying to stop sports coming back, just so long as they have delivered a plan for the adjustments that can be safely made which meet guidance. I am amazed other sports have been so slow off the mark.”

The Government had announced on May 13 that it was unlikely for competitions to take place across any sporting discipline, but the Angling Trust compiled their case to explain why match fishing could comply with overarching Government coronavirus guidance, including the specific prohibition of public gatherings of more than two people from different households.

In their submission, they outlined how fishing competitions involved no contact between competitors, that social distancing was always maintained, that there would be no spectators and that no competitor would share equipment. Anglers will be generally positioned at least 10 meters and usually 15 metres apart while fishing competitively.

“The Angling Trust best practice document was presented to Sport England and the DCMS last week, who agreed that they were ‘sensible’ and could be issued this week as the basis for a safe resumption of match fishing in England,” said an Angling Trust chief executive Jamie Cook. “It’s because we have acted sensibly and professionally that the government is happy to see the Angling Trust guidelines as the basis for a return to competitive fishing in all angling disciplines.

"My message to match anglers and organisers is not to take this for granted, particularly when many other sports are restricted to participation with no more than one other individual. By all means enjoy fishing matches again but please do so safely by following our guidelines to minimise the risk.”

The Angling Trust has also warned that the insurance policies of clubs or fisheries would almost certainly be invalidated if they do not follow the guidelines and expose anglers - and by extension the general public - to a greater risk of infection.