The Ulster GAA council have announced that teams in Northern Ireland will be allowed to play challenge games from Saturday 11th July.
This is six days before the Armagh leagues are due to commence, with the opening round matches taking place on Friday 17th July.
However, following their executive meeting, the Ulster council declared that spectators will not be permitted to attend games within the six counties.
The statement read:
“Those attending games is limited to essential personnel only (e.g. players, team management personnel, medics, Covid supervisors, match officials, working media (where appropriate) and club officials who have a specific function at the game).”
“There is an onus on clubs and counties to enforce the no spectators regulation rigidly. Hopefully within a very short space of time there will be provision for some spectators to attend games but until such times games can only take place with essential personnel only being present.”
“Ulster GAA appeals to clubs and counties to ensure that these conditions are met – we must all remember that if there is a breach(es) we are not only increasing the risk of Coronavirus spread but are also increasing the risk of restrictions being re-imposed.”
This puts a dent in fans excitement for the return of competitive action but with Championship season just around the corner, optimism will remain high that spectators can attend games in the near future.
