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Premier League football and other elite sport 'likely to continue' under second coronavirus lockdown

Burnley's Johann Berg Gudmundsson takes a free kick during the English Premier League soccer match between West Bromwich Albion and Burnley - EPA
Burnley's Johann Berg Gudmundsson takes a free kick during the English Premier League soccer match between West Bromwich Albion and Burnley - EPA

Premier League football and other elite sport is unlikely to be suspended under a second national coronavirus lockdownTelegraph Sport has been told.

But members of the public could be otherwise limited to “solo exercise” only under Government plans to slow the spread of the virus and save Christmas.

No decisions had been taken on Saturday on precisely how a second lockdown would affect physical activity but a Whitehall source said it was “likely” elite sport would be allowed to continue behind closed doors.

The same source was expecting a return of some sort of ban on recreational sport, which could see the likes of grass-roots football suspended for another month.

Allowing elite sport to continue behind closed doors would mirror the action taken by France and Germany, which last week announced their own second national lockdowns.

All sport was suspended in the UK in March when the country first went into lockdown, but the Premier League and other elite competitions returned this summer following the drawing up of strict protocols.

Those protocols have successfully contained the spread of the virus within those competitions and industry leaders were confident on Saturday that they would continue.

But they were resigned to severe restrictions being reintroduced on recreational sport, with one source predicting a fresh ban on the playing of team sports at that level.

There was hope of non-contact sports such as golf and tennis – which were among the first sports to be allowed to resume following the first lockdown – being granted an exemption.

The Government was also under pressure to do the same for gyms and leisure centres amid fears of a major slump in physical activity if people are only allowed to exercise outside during the winter.

Any suspension of grass-roots sport was anticipated to have a devastating impact on a sector in which sports clubs and centres are already at risk of going to the wall.