A LEADING academic has challenged the Stormont Executive to produce evidence which indicates outdoor sports for children is dangerous and argues that decisions affecting their physical and mental well-being can’t be made on “a hunch”.
Marie Murphy, a professor of Exercise and Health and Dean of Postgraduate Research at Ulster University, believes outdoor sports for children in controlled environments should never have been halted after their safe return following the lifting of restrictions last summer.
The New York-born professor, who fears a generation of children will be lost to sport, also echoed calls from some teaching unions for teachers to be vaccinated as quickly as possible in order for some sense of normality to return to the lives of children.
Due to current lockdown rules, children are unable to attend school and are banned from playing outdoor sports in a controlled manner.
In places such as Scotland, Holland and Sweden children’s outdoor sporting pursuits have continued throughout the pandemic, with various Covid19 protocol observed.
“I think we’ve made loads of mistakes [at the start of the pandemic] and that’s probably to be expected because it was all very new, and I think most governments would admit mistakes were made but, to me, they should always go back to the evidence," said Murphy, whose parents hail from Wicklow.
“I expect a government to use the best evidence; [but] where’s the evidence on this one? And yet they are making decisions that impact on our children. We’ve had long enough to gather evidence, if you are making decisions on a hunch, we have a right to challenge them.”
Murphy was one of several important voices who intervened in the debate over the inconsistency relating to PE numbers in schools last November, when more children were allowed in a classroom than outside together.
Education Minister Peter Weir was forced into a U-turn.
Professor Murphy insists the “punishment” of children has gone on for far too long and that government needs to trust sports clubs to execute Covid19 protocol guidelines in a professional and safe way.
“To me, we’re taking the group who are least at risk of getting sick and there is no evidence to say that they are any more at risk of spreading and we’re punishing them by depriving them of outdoor sport,” she continued.
“We have clear evidence that outdoors is the best place to be to avoid transmission. My only proviso is the adults involved in this need to take the responsibility as you can expect them to do. If they bring their child out cycling they put a helmet on them. If they go out driving they put a seat belt on their child.
“They need to realise they can’t hop into each other’s car, share a coffee or stand on the sideline and shout any more; they can’t pick up two or three other kids along the way to training or matches. You simply can’t do those things that they used to do, but their kids are still safe.”
Many have cited the contradiction in the use of play parks and the broad-brush closure of controlled outdoor sporting environments for children.
“Go down to any park and the kids are playing on swings and slides,” said Murphy, who is also a gymnast coach in her spare time.
“Outdoor transmission is negligible. There is a little bit of a lobby at the minute that suggests since the virus is airborne even outside is unsafe. But to get the viral load, you’d need to be standing very close and breathing on each other quite consistently. Now, I know very few sports that do that.
“And I know sports have already done a hell of a lot of work after the first lockdown. My daughter is a senior hockey player and she coaches little ones at her club. They have done a whole load of work and preparation to have them all back on a Friday night. I was watching them coaching these little kids after the last lockdown - there’s not a chance they’re picking up Covid with the precautions the club took.”
The Stormont Executive would argue the current lockdown restrictions are causing the number of new cases to drop significantly while also alleviating the stress on hospitals. The roll-out of the vaccine has also been well handled to date in protecting the elderly.
However, there are increasing calls for a more nuanced approach to government restrictions and for settings data to be made available.
More studies have emerged in recent times - in rugby and in the use of sports equipment, both of which argue the transmission rates are exceptionally low.
Mike Weed, professor of Applied Policy Sciences, also released a paper on the subject and concluded there was “low risk” in outdoor sports activity.
On the question of trying to restart face-to-face schooling, Murphy commented: “At some point I think we have to decide what way we’re vaccinating. Once we get to the 60-65 and vulnerable, could we stop, and then get everyone who has contact with children who feels at risk – every teacher, and maybe extend that to coaches and others – so that our kids can get back to normality because they are the ones who have suffered most.
“I know some teaching unions are pushing for this, and I would tend to agree with them.”
