Overnight the NSW Government has released the Public Health (COVID-19 General) Amendment Order (No 3) 2021. This amendment relates to outdoor community sport and recreation activities.

The amendment outlines the following changes to the maximum gathering size for outdoor community sports gatherings:

• Clause 2.12 (1) (b1) enables a COVID-19 safe outdoor public gathering for a community sporting activity to be the lesser of 1,000 persons or 1 person per 2 square metres.
• All people attending the gathering must be:
  • Fully vaccinated; or
  • under 16 years of age; or
  • have been issued with a medical contraindication certificate compliant with the Order
• The activity organiser must have a ‘community sport’ COVID-19 Safety Plan. Please note the Office of Sport has advised that they understand this is a new category of the plan which will be uploaded in the NSW Government COVID-19 Safety Plan webpage.

This amendment acknowledges the need for a larger gathering size to enable some community sports activities to recommence while taking into account the significant number of children that participate in community sport and are not yet fully vaccinated. It is anticipated this gathering limit will remain in place until at least 1 December 2021.

New COVID-19 Safety Plan for outdoor community sport
In line with the amendment, the Office of Sport has advised a new COVID-19 Safety Plan for outdoor community sport will be released.

This plan will reflect the outdoor gathering size being changed to 1,000 persons or 1 per 2 square metres, and will also have a language that better reflects the nature of community sport, including the role of volunteers. The plan will be available via the NSW Government COVID-19 Safety Plan webpage and the NSWTA will make a link available on its COVID webpage and via the Office of Sport COVID-19 webpage once published.

We can also advise that the Office of Sport is currently working with the Department of Customer Service to develop some resources to assist community sports organisation with implementing the COVID-19 Safety Plan requirements. Whilst these are in development, Affiliates are encouraged to access the range of COVID-19 business resources: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/business/covid-safe-business

We will continue to monitor the situation throughout the State, NSW Health, the Office of Sport and Sport NSW. We will communicate any future recommendations, changes to COVID-19 Safety Plans or Public Health Orders impacting our sport.

Best wishes and stay safe.