Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Whanganui sport emerges from lockdown

Heartland Rugby will kick off on September 17. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Whanganui sport has the chance to get the ball rolling again with this week's move to Covid-19 alert level 2.

Sport Whanganui's sport and club partnership lead Aidan O'Connor said they were awaiting further guidance from Sport New Zealand in terms of what the new alert level 2 restrictions would mean.

"There are obviously a few changes there that could affect limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings, and mandates around mask-wearing and contact tracing.

"Sports are working away in the background, trying to work out what that means for them in terms of restarting play.

"We've kept up good dialogue with the sports codes and secondary schools over lockdown, because each sport is in a slightly different place. Summer sports are preparing for their season ahead and winter sports are finishing up their competitions."

Steelform Whanganui would reconvene for training on Thursday and Saturday, Whanganui Rugby chief executive Bridget Belsham said.

The team's last training session was on August 17.

"They've all been doing some individual fitness stuff during lockdown, but they're keen to get reconnected as a team," Belsham said.

"The boys only got five games in last year. We will have a reasonable competition this time around, though."

The Heartland Championship (outside of Auckland) will recommence from Friday, September 17.

"There will be a few date changes, and 50 per cent of the games have been moved to the other end of the competition," Belsham said.

"It's pretty close to what we'd normally have though."

The Whanganui under-16 and under-18 trials will be held on Saturday at Cullinane College, with the under-16s running from 9.30am to 12 noon and the under-18s from 1pm to 3.30pm.

Trials for the female under-15 and under-18 teams will be held on Monday, September 13, from 4pm to 6pm at Marist Training Ground next to Cullinane College.

Aidan O'Connor says local sports have been "working away in the background" to adapt to alert level 2 restrictions. Photo / Supplied

No spectators will be allowed to attend, unless inside a vehicle, and players are required to scan in on arrival using the NZ Covid Tracer app.

Football in Whanganui was expected to resume under alert level 2, Central Football Federation chief operations manager Donald Piper said.

"I've sent out a communique to the clubs indicating that we would like to return to play on Saturday, September 11," Piper said.

"Basically, it involves rescheduling all the missed games and pushing out the season to the end of the month.

"This will ultimately depend on a couple of things - the alert level guidelines as prescribed by Sport New Zealand, and any particular local government guidelines that we're not yet aware of."

Roly Taylor and John Brown Championship games are scheduled for September 11, 18, and 25, as are Whanganui Women's Senior Cup games.

Men's Charity Cup, Plate and Bowl, and the Women's James Cup, will be contested during the 2022 pre-season.

"I'm hopeful-slash-confident," Piper said.

"We are beholden to the Government, and rightfully so. There's a process for a reason.

"We put out a survey to all our stakeholders and 75 per cent of them said they wanted to return to the field, which was really encouraging. We're trying to deliver on that."

O'Connor said mask-wearing at indoor sports facilities was required, apart from when the person was actually engaging in the sport.

"We need to make sure there are processes in place for the codes and facility providers to manage mandatory contact tracing as well.

"They've been really good at getting those plans in place and talking with the people they need to, to cover off those new restrictions that have come in for level 2 this time around.

"Delta is different, and we need to be able to adapt some of those health and safety plans from last time.

"We need to keep each other safe, so we can get back into all the sports we enjoy."