Simon Lewis and Matt Born from the Rugby Club Consortium in the United Arab Emirates, talk to Yalla Rugby about the COVID-19 Return To Play Phase 2 guidelines that the UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF) released this week, following a successful Phase 1 during August of 2020.

Phase 2 Update

After the above video interview with Simon and Matt, the UAERF announced that as of today (3rd September 2020), the General Authority for Sport, which includes instructions from the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management and the Dubai Health Authority have set out a number of changes to Phase 2. The updated instructions below are to be implemented with immediate effect:

• Primary school age (and younger) children are not permitted to train – this effects Under 4’s to Under 12 rugby teams.
• Parents/spectators are no longer permitted to be pitch side.
• Maximum trining squad sizes are now limited to 40 (they were previously 50).

It is still unclear whether this ‘suspension’ of rugby training is intended to be temporary and short-lived, or likely to be for a longer period of time.