Trouble brewing from athletes that refused to take covid-19 vaccines

On Friday night, plans were being worked up to exempt Premier League footballers – and other UK-based sportspeople – from the Government’s “elite sport exemption” if they refused to be vaccinated against coronavirus.

Anti-vaxx athletes would be barred from training or competing for five to ten days while quarantined upon their return to the UK from a foreign nation.

Telegraph Sport examines the potential influence on sport in this article:

Football
According to the current numbers, 16 percent of Premier League players and 25% of English Football League players are unvaccinated. The proposal may prevent unjabbed Premier League players from taking vacations during the forthcoming winter break, as well as those returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. It may prevent such players from participating in away legs of Champions League and Europa League matches, or it may cause them to miss domestic games when they return. It might even lead to clubs refusing to release them for international service abroad, including unvaccinated England players. Any overseas pre-season tours, as well as the players’ summer vacations, could be affected. Not to mention the World Cup, which will take place at the conclusion of the year.

Any regulation change might affect Rugby Union Six Nations contests and European club games first, with Henry Slade – who confessed to Telegraph Sport last year that he had yet to acquire a vaccine – among the possible victims. Elite rugby union matches are only played once a week to allow players to recuperate fully, but even those who have not been jabbed could miss games if they are barred from training in the weeks leading up to them. This summer, England, Scotland, and Wales will tour Australia, Argentina, and South Africa, respectively, and unjabbed players will be impacted when they return to the UK. Premiership Rugby claims that 96% of its players have received all of their vaccinations.

Cricket
Given Australia’s refusal to allow Novak Djokovic access, it’s safe to assume that the entire England Ashes team is either completely vaccinated or has a legitimate medical problem that prevents them from being so. Anyone in their Twenty20 squad who has not been vaccinated, as well as any player competing in the lucrative Indian Premier League, could be affected when they return from their five-match series in the West Indies later this month.

Tennis
While an unjabbed British player would not be unable to compete in both the French Open and Wimbledon, they would need to arrive in the UK far ahead of the latter’s June 27 start date. Top players spend the majority of their life on tour and only play in Britain during the grass-court season, aside from team events. Non-residents will be exempt from the government’s crackdown, so Djokovic should be able to defend his Wimbledon championship without difficulty.

Golf
To avoid being barred from competing in the Open or Women’s Open, an unvaccinated British golfer could be compelled to forgo abroad warm-up events. Although an unjabbed British female golfer could be barred from practicing before the August 4-7 Women’s Open if she also competes in the July 21-24 Evian Championship, this would not necessitate missing any of the other majors.

Formula One is a racing series that takes place in
Because the majority of teams are headquartered in the United Kingdom, the government crackdown would make life difficult for anyone who is unvaccinated and travels to races before returning to the UK. It would be surprising, though, if someone working in a sport that is on the cutting edge of science and technology turned out to be anti-vaxxer.

Athletics Unvaccinated track and field competitors may be barred from competing at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham if they travel to the World Championships in Eugene. The two events take place on different days. Unjabbed athletes, like footballers, would have a difficult time, regardless of whether they returned to the UK to train in between international events.

Although the cycling team Ineos Grenadiers is based in the United Kingdom, all of their riders are completely vaccinated. Professional teams in a sport where many participants spend the year in Spain and Italy appear to have adopted an unofficial “no jab, no ride” policy.

Boxing\sUnvaccinated The new laws would affect British boxers, although fights are so rare in this country that the crackdown would only apply if someone was coming from an overseas training camp for a match here.

The Winter Olympics are held every four years.
Unvaccinated athletes were already on the verge of being effectively barred from competing in the Beijing Olympics next month due to rules requiring them to quarantine for 21 days. As a result, anyone chosen to represent the United Kingdom would almost certainly have been double-jabbed.