PUBLIC health expert Professor Gabriel Scally has questioned the legitimacy and value of the continued restrictions on grassroots outdoor sports for children and young people - and added the only ban he would introduce is shouting to reduce the potential for expelling the virus.
The Belfast-born Scally is Honorary Professor of Public Health at the University of Bristol and President of the Epidemiology and Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The eminent medic, who has helped inform the Covid19 debate and its eradication since the start of the pandemic, said there was no valid reason that he could think of as to why sporting outdoor pursuits among children in a controlled environment would be prohibited.
Scally’s assessment comes on the back of a legal challenge by solicitor Stephen Atherton to the Executive’s decision on outdoor sporting restrictions.
Sports activity below 'elite' level has been severely curtailed for many sports clubs dating back to mid-October when the 'R' rate began to climb.
Given the latest lockdown rules over the next fortnight, there is little prospect of a resumption in mid-December and no guarantee either that grassroots sports will get the green light in the New Year.
Before last Friday's complete sports lockdown came into effect, the Irish Football Association had already banned the use of a football, "erring on the side of caution" - but the absence of essential equipment has left clubs at a loss as to how to conduct sessions in a non-contact, socially distanced manner.
Scally has been an ardent critic of how the British Government and Stormont Executive have handled their respective responses to the virus - but would be reluctant to stop children playing outdoors.
"There isn't a lot of data but at the same time if you just did a crude comparison of what are the risks of children sitting indoors with no masks in school," said Scally.
"There are the same number of children that there always have been in that classroom all day every day compared to children running around outdoors kicking a ball about, especially if it's soccer and you're not handling the ball.
"You wouldn't have surface contacts [in football] which you do in schools - such as desks and doors."
