You will now have to present your health pass to hit the ball.
While the Delta variant continues to progress and the fourth wave of the Covid-19 epidemic is raging in France, Emmanuel Macron announced on July 12 an extension of the health pass to places open to the public.
A law definitively adopted by Parliament on the night of Sunday to Monday, which shakes up the practice of amateur sport.
The Ministry of Sports thus ensures that all federations and sports establishments open to the public are concerned.
"It's not a la carte," we insist.
Several federations have already formalized this application and "announced" the news to their affiliated clubs.
Among them: the French Tennis Federation.
Find the measures concerning the Health Pass in the #sport from July 21, 2021⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gbNx8qrLyr
- Ministry of Sports 🗼🇫🇷 (@Sports_gouv) July 21, 2021
Officially, since July 21, "any player, spectator, referee, companion over 18 must produce the health pass in all indoor or outdoor spaces of the club, as soon as the capacity is greater than 50 people", thus details the FFT.
But in reality, it is sometimes a little more complicated.
New constraints for clubs
If due to school holidays, court attendance remains limited at the end of July, clubs are sometimes struggling to organize themselves to find the right solution. "The difficulty for us is to organize continuous on-the-spot checks", explains Alain Hebert, president of Montfermeil Tennis 93. The courts of this club with 500 members are in fact accessible from 7 am to 11 pm, every day. "We will not be able to install someone at the entrance permanently," he continues, while his sports association operates with a majority of volunteers.
The management committee of the Seine-Saint-Denis club met on Monday evening.
“Our activity will be reduced until the end of August, but we must warn our members.
We prepare a letter for them and for our part, we think about possible solutions ”.
The club therefore plans to check the validation of the health pass online, for example when booking a court.
To access any activity, competitive or free, across all FFT disciplines, the health pass is now required for everyone, licensed or not.
Find out more ➡️ https://t.co/y9FQ2N1hOz pic.twitter.com/Bba5duRnP8
- FFT (@FFTennis) July 24, 2021
Still, the sports association, like many clubs in France, has already "suffered a fairly significant lack of revenue in 2020" and fears seeing its activity stagnate at the start of the school year.
A reinforced measure on September 30
If the under-18s are not affected by the immediate implementation of this measure, their situation will change as of September 30.
The health pass will then be "required in all establishments", for "all audiences, 12 years and over, without exception", specifies the French Tennis Federation.
As for club employees, also temporarily exempted, they will have to present a complete vaccination schedule, a negative test of less than 48 hours or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19 upon re-entry.
Similar calendar for rugby clubs, requested by their federation at the end of last week.
"We had to have a firm position, especially so that associations can organize themselves as well as possible," says the FFR.
We understand that these controls can represent a constraint, but everything must be in place, it is a government decision ”.
Here again, the clubs will have to mobilize one of their own to ensure the checks.
While waiting to see the rate of frequentation of the rugby fields accelerate, the organization has provided clubs with an email address, dedicated to this application of the health pass.
“We have already received several feedback.
And the measure, if it requires organization, is rather well received.
The real fear of clubs is to have to close again, ”continues the Federation.
A certain tolerance should be observed until August 9, date of entry into force of the health pass (subject to validation by the Constitutional Council) announced by Gabriel Attal on Wednesday.
