Province gives green light to 'low-contact' sports, but organizers say that's too vague

The province says low-contact sports can start as the province moves into the "yellow" phase of COVID-19 restrictions.

But that's leaving leagues officials to question whether their sport falls under that category.

For Dennis van den Heuvel, the executive director of the Fredericton District Soccer Association, he doesn't really know.

"If you think traditionally, in terms of matches and games and that kind of thing. there's lots of close contact. That's just how the sport is played," said van den Heuvel.

"Does soccer qualify under this low contact?"

What is 'low-contact'

Nick Boudreau, the executive director of Baseball NB, said he believes his league can make rule changes to make sure the sport is low-contact, but admits he hasn't seen a clear-cut definition.

"I think you'll have a hard time finding somebody that will nail down exactly what a low-contact sport is," said Boudreau.

"I think our sport lends to the guidelines that are set out by the provincial government."

The province was asked several times during a news conference last week to define a low-contact sport.

But the question was repeatedly sidestepped, instead saying they'd been in contact with leagues to determine that.

"There are guidance documents to help sport associations understand what they can and can't do and how to make their sports as safe as possible," said Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province's chief medical officer of health.

Sports slowly returning

As the world has slowly started to ease restrictions, some sports are returning.

Baseball is already being played in Taiwan and South Korea, while one of Europe's top soccer leagues, the German Bundesliga, had games over the past two weekends. Those games have been played without spectators, and with strict rules around interactions between players, coaches and officials.

Professional sports leagues have had to develop rules for the most mundane of interactions, with Major League Baseball looking to ban the exchange of line-up cards before games and not allowing players to spit.

Boudreau says on-field contact is only part of keeping people safe.

"Things like use of dugouts, or a staple of our sport is sunflower seeds, things like that," said Boudreau.

"We have to have rules around all those things."

They also have to figure out what to do if an athlete tests positive for COVID-19.

Both Boudreau and van den Heuvel say they're looking at restarting training and practice first and any competitive aspect of their leagues would be further down the road.

They both believe athletes could be on the field in some form in a month.