What a 24 hours for our community. From the announcement at 22:30 last night that England would see a near-immediate limit to groups more than six in total meeting to a potential glimmer of a possible exit to social distancing and a ban on grappling. It’s far from black and white and is yet to be a clear-cut cause for celebration; but it’s certainly not as bad as we feared this morning.

Who does this affect?

England only, for now.

What happened?

Owing to what the Government described as a rapid rise in the infection rate in England over the last few weeks, an announcement was made that from Monday 14th September, groups would be limited to no more than 6 across all settings. The media reported certain exclusions, including ‘team sports’. Far from a clear signal that martial arts would be spared another shut-down, the term ‘team’ caused considerable distress and alarm. Subsequently, an update from the Prime Minister was scheduled for 16:00 on 09/09/2020.

What was the outcome, and what new rules have been introduced?

As widely reported today, the PM did indeed confirm the new ‘rule of 6’ limiting groups to no more than 6 people – children included – across all settings in England. This includes private residences and outdoor settings. There were some notable exceptions, including places of work, school, some additional religious settings and – most relevant to us – gyms and ‘organised sport’.

How does this affect martial arts and how will it affect clubs training?

Right now we’re not entirely sure. We are hopeful that the news today means there will be no tangible change to the numbers and capacity at which martial arts classes can run. Clubs will need to be increasingly careful about hygiene and being ‘Covid-Secure’ as will venues (and clubs who lease their own premises) about ensuring social distancing is enforced rigorously.

There is an important distinction in that the rule of 6 is law – not guidance. This means the Police have enforcement powers and will be proactively looking to fine and disperse groups who flout this limitation.

At the time of writing this (16:46 on 09/09/2020) we seem to have beaten the DCMS in updating their guidance as it is still showing as last updated on 19th August. We are awaiting formal confirmation from the Sport And Recreation Alliances’ policy team on the implications for independent martial arts, and the Prime Minister’s guidance this evening seems to contradict Sport England . It’s a bit of a mess at the moment, but the details should start to emerge over the coming days and will be subject to rigorous scrutiny from our in-house policy expert.

So far, the best interpretation of guidance seems to suggest a few things;

1. Martial arts is not classified as a team sport, per the Sport England list of sports recognised as a ‘team sport’ here.
2. Individual Sports are not required to submit their plans for government review (Sport England).
3. Gyms are not forced to adhere to the new limit of 6 people within the venue however there was a reference “[gyms must] not [allow] individual groups larger than 6, and groups must mix socially with other groups”. We are trying to ascertain exactly what this means for gyms but we currently believe it relates to groups arriving and training together in a gym setting – such as using the same equipment or floor space etc. This is unlikely to have a material impact on a class structure within a martial arts gym (or dojo).
4. Only 4 categories of sport are permitted to continue without the new limit of 6, as set by Sport England, and these are;

> Approved Team Sports
> Organised Participation Events
> Gyms, Leisure Centres and Pools
> Groups Of Children which are permitted up to 15, plus an adult, as per Department for Education guidance.

There is clearly a big question mark about where martial arts fits into this, but clearly gyms and participatory events would look to accommodate martial arts participation, as would leisure centres and delivery to groups of children. This is very positive news but caution should be heeded as we are yet to see official updates from DCMS or UK Government so as of yet it is not possible to see exactly what is classified as an organised sport, nor what other conditions might exist.

We have seen ‘stings in the tail’ before with lockdown and Covid measures, so we’re recommending clubs proceed with caution for the moment until all of the full facts have been flushed out. For now it would appear that there is no need to panic, shut classes or limit class sizes to six. Provided you are following the best possible guidance grass roots independent martial arts should be able to continue ‘as is’ but we will monitor this closely in the coming days.

What is the glimmer of hope referenced during the PMs speech?

The Prime Minister also outlined a “moonshot” plan to control the virus with mass testing. As per the BBC News guidance here;

But he said they also want to use new types of test “in the near future” to identify people who do not have coronavirus and are not infectious so they can live life “in a more normal way”.

He said these swab or saliva tests could be turned around in 90 or even 20 minutes, with millions processed each day – a “moonshot” effort to restore more normal life even if a vaccine or treatment is not available.

“We’re hopeful this approach will be widespread by the spring and if everything comes together it may be possible – even for some of the most difficult sectors like the theatres – to have life much closer to normal before Christmas.”

This could spell out a return to contact martial arts training and even grappling without the need for social distancing as early as December. If that’s not achievable, the Prime Minister has set out a desire to see this in place ‘by the spring’ and that in itself might mean we’re in the final stretch of adaptions as we know it for martial arts.

What do I need to do next?

The first step for all clubs right now should be to seek clarity from the DCMS and other official sources as soon as the guidance is updated. There is no sense in hiding behind a perception and we must be prepared to address and attack any limitations that unfairly discriminate against martial arts. The old adage of ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst’ is certainly one to adopt for the coming days and weeks.

As a practical first step, you should contact your venues immediately if you rent. It’s quite plausible that they won’t know the guidance properly yet either, but establishing a good line of communication now to confirm your intentions to continue teaching safely, and to address martial arts not being disqualified from teaching groups greater than 6 is an essential step in preventing unnecessary disruption to your classes at this stage.

We will keep the wider martial arts community updated as the guidance and details become clearer, so make sure you’re following us on social media for the latest breaking news on Covid developments, and how this might impact on martial arts.