June 2021

The government has advanced the new limit of 500 fans for outdoor sporting events to this Saturday. The easing was originally scheduled for Monday, July 5, but earlier Wednesday morning Sports Minister Jack Chambers announced on Twitter that weekend GAA matches could benefit from the new upper limit.

“Small but big change for sporting events. The increase in the number of spectators is applicable from this Saturday July 3 to facilitate the increase in attendance for this weekend’s matches. Further proposals for increased capacity and connections are being developed for July and August. “

This means that in venues with a capacity of 5,000 or more, 500 spectators will be allowed to attend – an increase of 300 from what has been put in place to date. Smaller capacity venues will see the number of authorized attendees double from 100 to 200.

The coming weekend is a very busy one for GAA Championship matches with football championships in Connacht, Leinster and Ulster and hurling championship semi-finals in Leinster and Munster. There are also games in the McDonagh, Ring, Rackard and Meagher Cups of hurling.

The move comes too early for Friday night’s All-Ireland minor semi-final between Limerick and Galway at Ennis, which will be subject to the old limit.

Counties were hoping the new crowd limit would be brought forward after Croke Park got the nod to allow 8,000 to attend Saturday’s Leinster semi-finals.

Other pilot events this weekend are the Connacht football semi-final between Roscommon and Galway at Dr Hyde Park, which will feature 1,049 people, and the Munster hurling semi-final between Limerick and Cork on Saturday evening, which will feature 2 400.

In Ulster where the 500 limit was already in effect, this means Saturday’s Monaghan-Fermanagh quarter-final will now have the same capacity as Antrim and Armagh on Sunday.

While watching sports on TV is great, most fans will tell you that the experience is greatly enhanced by attending games in person, especially at Chapel Hill. Securing your ticket to a game is paramount to the overall sporting experience at UNC, and here’s how to do it.

Soccer

There is a lot of hype surrounding the football team this year after last season’s run at the Orange Bowl, and students will want to be at Kenan Memorial Stadium to see it.

Student football tickets are available through a lottery process for most home games throughout the season. The lottery opens 10 days before each game and students have 48 hours to participate.

The timing of lottery entries does not affect the odds of getting a ticket – anyone who registers at any time during the 48 hour period has an equal chance of winning.

Students find out if they won by email five days before the game, and winners receive their tickets in another email three days later. Students who do not receive lottery tickets can join the queue on match day. All student tickets become void after kick-off, and those unused tickets go to the students in the queue.

All student ticket holders can enter the stadium 90 minutes before kick-off.

Men’s basketball

Then began the Hubert Davis era. When students enter the Dean E. Smith Center to watch the Tar Heels game, they can sense the historic significance of the basketball program.

Similar to football, a student ticket lottery system is in effect for home basketball games throughout the season, with the exception of exhibitions and certain non-conference games, which are open to students according to the first come, first served principle.

The winners receive their tickets by email five days before the match and the tickets are divided into three phases.

Students with Phase 1 tickets can enter the Smith Center an hour and a half before departure, Phase 2 an hour before, and Phase 3 half an hour before.

As with football, unused tickets become void at the time of the game and there is a queue for students who have not received lottery tickets.

Carolina fever

Carolina Fever is a rewards program in which students earn points for each “Fever” event they participate in. Students don’t need to register for the program – they just swipe their OneCards to the games.

The top 200 students in the points standings receive a ticket for each home football match. The top 150 receive Phase 1 tickets to every men’s basketball game at home – one for the game against Duke and two for every other game.

Students can check the Carolina fever website to see which events will earn them points for the season.

Other sports

Other UNC sporting events are free for students and simply require a OneCard to participate.

@jc_leser

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

ROME (AP) — Postponed a year, the biggest sporting event since the coronavirus brought the world to a standstill kicked off at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Friday — a milestone for both European and global sport.

The opening match of the European Football Championship was played in the Italian capital, the first country outside of Asia to be hit by the pandemic and the first in the world to implement a nationwide lockdown. Italy delighted the masked home fans by beating Turkey 3-0, scoring all the goals in the second half.

The tournament represents a major step forward on the road to recovery from one of the darkest chapters in the continent’s history since World War II. More than a million Europeans have died in the pandemic, including nearly 127,000 Italians.

“After everything that’s happened, now the situation is improving, I think the time has come to start giving the fans something to be happy about,” said Italy coach Roberto Mancini, who tested positive. to COVID-19 in November but was asymptomatic.

The tournament was postponed last March when countries scrambled to contain virus outbreaks and major sporting events around the world were canceled or suspended.

Many fear it’s still not safe to pack tens of thousands of fans into stadiums across Europe, but organizers hope measures such as crowd limits, staggered arrival times for fans , social distancing rules and plenty of hand sanitizers will help prevent a resurgence of viral infections. , which have fallen sharply in Europe in recent months.

In Rome, fans entering the stadium are required to bring documentation proving they have been vaccinated against the virus, tested negative within 48 hours of the game or already had the disease.

The sports world is watching. If all goes well, Euro 2020 can provide a boost of confidence for other major sporting events, such as the Tokyo Olympics, which are due to open on July 23 – also a year late. If not, it would be a serious setback that could have ramifications beyond football.

“Let’s hope for the best,” said Alessandro Savelloni, a 36-year-old Roman enjoying a beer with his wife at a street bar before the game. “We are emerging from a dark period. People need freedom. To resume a normal life.

The virus has already had an impact on the tournament, which for the first time is not hosted by one or two nations but is spread across the continent with matches in 11 cities.

Spain captain Sergio Busquets has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the team’s opener against Sweden in Sevilla on Monday. Another Spanish player tested positive, as did two Swedish players. The Spanish team were vaccinated on Friday.

Russian winger Andrey Mostovoy then became the first player to be kicked out of a national team Friday after testing positive.

Italy’s opener brought together the biggest crowd in the country since its full lockdown 15 months ago, even though the stadium was only 25 per cent full.

Tenor Andrea Bocelli, who recovered from COVID-19 in 2020, delivered a powerful rendition of Giacomo Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” during the opening ceremony. Bocelli touched the hearts of millions in Italy and beyond when he performed a solo concert in Milan’s empty cathedral over Easter last year. Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, at the time the epicenter of the pandemic in Europe.

In Rome and elsewhere in Italy, most virus restrictions have now been lifted. A midnight curfew and the obligation to wear a mask outside one’s home are the most tangible ways in which the pandemic is still affecting the daily lives of citizens.

Shops, restaurants, gyms, museums and theaters have reopened. Roman traffic returned to its usual chaotic state, with swarms of scooters vying for space on the lanes with honking cars. Tourists return too, although the historic center with its famous monuments remains less crowded than is normal for this time of year.

Metin Karagulle, a Turkish fan riding past the Colosseum on an electric scooter before the match, said being in Rome for the tournament opener was an “unforgettable” moment.

Italy still bans non-essential travel from Turkey, but many Turkish fans living in other European countries have traveled to Rome to support their national team.

Italian fans who watched the match on a big screen in a town center square were as thrilled with the victory as they were able to share the experience with each other.

“It was very moving, very beautiful,” said Rome resident Federico Riva. “The atmosphere, the fact that we were in the crowd, it’s something that we all missed. The stadium full of supporters, we needed all that, we really needed it. “

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf and Video Producer Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

All spectators at the 16 pilot test events will be required to abide by a code of conduct which includes remaining seated whenever possible and avoiding contact with others outside of their social bubbles.

Spectators will also be required to wear a face covering at all times, download the HSE Covid-19 contract tracking app and follow the advice of staff and stewards.

Pilot events include GAA, camogie and women’s football, League of Ireland matches, rugby matches and other sports such as golf and athletics.

The first events take place on Friday and include Leinster v Dragons at RDS, Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps at Tallaght Stadium and Cork City v Cabinteely at Turner’s Cross.

Stadiums with a capacity of more than 5,000 people will be limited to a maximum attendance of between 200 and 500 people initially.

For the test events, no food or drink will be available and entry times will be staggered to allow efficient and safe fan passage.

Chief Government Whip Jack Chambers released updated guidelines for the reopening of sports grounds on Monday which were drafted by a task force of sporting events experts and health and safety advisers.

They include mitigation measures to allow the safe return of spectators to sporting events.

These include advance communication with attendees, venues operating at reduced capacity, physical distancing, mask-wearing and hand hygiene.

A “robust” contact tracing system will also be in place.

These events will be used to assess and review progress towards increasing spectator capacity at events in July and August.

“I am acutely aware of fans’ impatience to see their home county, local club or sporting heroes in action again,” Mr Chambers said.

“These expert-led guidelines are important because they set out a clear path to allow large numbers of spectators to attend games again.

“They cover a wide range of areas, from ticketing and arriving at the pitch, to public transport and communications with supporters, to stadium signage, contact tracing and a host of other factors. important.

“The guidelines may be continually reviewed after each pilot event and will eventually pave the way for more sporting events as we move into the summer and fall.”

The task force will monitor events and adapt approaches, if necessary, as progress is made towards higher attendance later this summer.

There will be contact tracing linked to each ticket which will be held for 28 days, to allow sporting groups to assist the HSE if there is a case of Covid-19 linked to the event.

Later in the summer, as more people are vaccinated, it may be possible to increase attendance even further.

The event organizers will have primary responsibility and liaise with local authorities, public transport providers, the Garda and others.

Organizations have worked with their ticketing partners to ensure robust track and trace will be in place and this system has already been trialled in the UK.

16 trial sporting events with limited spectators

June 11, RDS

Leinster v Dragons

June 11, Tallaght Stadium

LoI Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps

June 11, Turner’s Cross

LoI Cork City v Cabinteely

June 20, Croke Park

Camogie National League Finals

June 18-20, to be confirmed

Possible driver of a GAA Men’s National Football League final if scheduled

June 25, Tallaght Stadium

LoI Shamrock Rovers v Drogheda

June 26, Morton Stadium, Santry

Irish National Athletics Championships

June 26, Saturday, Croke Park

Division 1 and 2 Ladies Gaelic Football Association League Finals

June 26, Saturday, Tolka Park WNL

Shelbourne v Cork

July 1, Thurs-Sun, Mount Juliet

Kilkenny Irish Open Golf (European Tour)

July 2, Tallaght Stadium

LoI Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

July 3, Aviva Stadium

Ireland vs Japan

July 3, Semple Stadium, Thurles

Munster GAA Hurling Semi Final Cork v Limerick

July 4, Dr. Hyde Park

Connacht GAA Football Championships: Roscommon v Galway

July 10, Aviva Stadium

Ireland v USA

Late June, Curragh

Horse Racing Event – one day in a series

On Wednesday, China’s General Administration of Sports said it was shutting down all high-risk sporting events that lack a clear oversight body, established rules and safety standards, according to a declaration on its website.

He also ordered local authorities “not to hold any sports competitions unless necessary” and to cancel any events that pose security risks in the run-up to the Chinese Communist Party’s centenary, which falls on July 1.

Authorities did not say how many races will be affected by the suspension. According to the China Athletics Association, 481 trail races and 25 ultra-marathons were held in 2019, more than a quarter of all long-distance running events in the country.

Marathons and trail races have exploded in popularity as China’s rising middle class has caught the running bug in recent years. But industry insiders say the races are often poorly organised, lacking in safety measures and contingency planning – and sometimes plagued with injuries and fatalities.

Trail races often take place in remote areas of the country that are lagging in development and resources. The deadly May 22 mountain run took place in the remote countryside of Gansu, one of the country’s poorest regions.

Most of the victims, including some of the nation’s top distance runners, were ill-equipped for the cold and died of hypothermia – a dangerous drop in body temperature caused by prolonged exposure to freezing cold.

The tragedy shocked the Chinese running community and sparked public outrage, with many questioning whether organizers had properly planned the race or prepared participants for the extreme weather conditions.

Even before Thursday’s announcement, dozens of marathons and trail races had been canceled or postponed across the country in the past two weeks, according to state media.

Spectators will not need to be vaccinated to attend pilot sporting events from next week, but mandatory mask-wearing and physical distancing will be enforced, Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers has confirmed.

Mr Chambers said stadiums will initially operate at 5-10 per cent capacity, but this could increase from early July. Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne programme, Mr Chambers said the government was putting in place a “clear path back” for spectators to return to sporting events.

Plans are in place for 15 pilot events from June 11, involving a range of sports including GAA, rugby, football, athletics and golf.

Mr Chambers said his department had tried to ensure a mix of men’s and women’s games, with offers across the country.

“We try to produce a really controlled environment. . . We are trying to build trust for a safe return for low-risk spectators,” he said.

Tickets for these events will be issued by sports organizations to a named recipient and the identity of the ticket holder will be checked upon entering the stadium, it said. There will be staggered entries and exits to events, with “strict rules” to control crowds at entry points and spectators assigned to specific “areas”. “Active travel” to and from the games will also be encouraged, Mr Chambers said. Food and drink will not be permitted initially, he confirmed.

Debriefing

“After each event and pilot, there will be a debriefing, and the lessons learned will be compiled and shared with all other sports organisations,” he added.

Antigen tests can be used at some of the pilot events, but that will be decided on a “case-by-case basis”, he said. If a confirmed case of the virus is identified among attendees, other spectators will be contacted through their tickets, he said. Mr Chambers said it was important to get fans back to games because “it’s outdoors, it’s safe, it’s remote and there’s mask-wearing”.

Meanwhile, 100 fans will be allowed to attend local matches in June, rising to 200 spectators in July. Outdoor matches are allowed to take place from June 7. The stadiums with a capacity of 5,000 people will be able to accommodate 200 spectators per match from June and 500 from July. “Clear protocols” will be issued by sporting bodies, Chambers added.