Leisure Leagues would like to confirm to all our teams in Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell that it remains business as usual after the increased local lockdown measures for the area were announced at a press conference this afternoon.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street read a statement to media and said: “The areas will now be escalated to an area of national intervention.”

The restrictions were not about “prevention of schools, workplaces, or transport” but about mixing of households, he said.

The good news for all our hundreds of teams in the West Midlands is that – in line with the so-called “rule of six” that was announced by Boris Johnson on Wednesday these stricter measures do not apply to sporting events.

This means that all our leagues in the conurbation – including those at Tudor Grange, Birmingham University and Colmers Farm and others– will be able to continue when the measures come into force on Tuesday.

Leisure Leagues’ Jack Kéeling said it was testimony to everything Leisure Leagues – the largest provider of 6 a side football in the world – had done to make sure the leagues were Covid safe: “We put a lot of work in before they resumed on the new guidelines and we are delighted that the government have recognised this and allowed these vital community hubs to continue.”

When the leagues returned in June, they did so with a raft of new rules, including players paying by card, instead of cash and not being allowed within two metres of the referee.

We have also worked with all our venues to provide a Risk Assessment and track and trace systems are in place.

A full list of the new Covid-19 guidelines is here: