Sport and leisure clubs in the Harrogate district have reacted with delight to this afternoon’s government announcement that they can reopen next week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed lockdown will end on December 2 and the country will return to a tier system.

Gyms, sports clubs and non-essential shops will all be able to re-open.

Chris McVey, chair of Pannal Ash Junior Football Club, which has 400 boys and girls, said it hoped to resume training on the weekend of December 5 and 6.

“It’s good news but to be honest I’m still bemused by it all. I don’t know why the boys and girls couldn’t train. I don’t know what their fitness levels will be like after a month off but it will be great to be back.”

Harrogate Gymnastics Club tweeted it was ‘brilliant news’.

Phillip McKay, owner of independent Ripon gym Intrim, agreed. He told the Stray Ferret:

“When you see people queueing for McDonald’s and gyms closed, it doesn’t make sense. Gyms have so many health benefits.”

Mike Barnett, coach of Harrogate Ladies rugby club, said:

“The announcements are really positive for the players physically and also mentally as they are doing something they love with their friends again. We are still not at a place to do matches but they will be pleased to get back together.

“We just need to wait for the official line from the RFU and what tier Harrogate is placed in.”

There was good news for Harrogate Town fans too, with the government also raising the prospect of some fans possibly being allowed to return to outdoor events. Harrogate Town celebrated the news on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/HarrogateTown/status/1330915072407957504

Government guidance today said adult sport would be permitted outdoors in tier one areas but must follow the rule of six indoors.

Outdoor sports can also take place in tier two areas but only one household can take part in indoor activities.

Tier three also permits outdoor sports but limits household mixing and encourages people to avoid contact sport.

Indoor sports clubs say they can only hope they’ll be able to reopen after changes to government guidelines forced them to close their doors.

Any indoor sport with more than six adult participants has now been banned from today, after being exempt from the ‘rule of six’ introduced last week.

In Harrogate, some indoor sports clubs say the future looks “worrying” as they don’t know when they’ll be able to re-open – or whether their members will return.

Andy Hawkswell, founder of Harrogate Indoor Cricket League, said:

“It was a bit of a shock and of course very disappointing. We had 14 to 16 teams playing in the league this year – the demand was high because the summer season was halved.

“It’s worrying that after having so much time off, they may not come back. For a lot of the players, there is a huge social aspect to the game and they will miss out on that now.

“Unfortunately it’ll probably be a year out and we’ll have to hope there’s enough interest for next year if people return.”

This troop has had to suspend training again with its coach looking for employment elsewhere.

Megan Fairweather runs the Fire and Ice Cheerleading squad in Harrogate. It is a youth team, but some members are over 18 so the exclusions still apply.

The squad was only set up in September 2019, leaving Megan without financial support. She worries that with further delays the members won’t return.

She said:

“We haven’t been open since March – we were planning to reopen this week but we’ve had to cancel that. The government has come out with a list and because cheerleading isn’t registered as an official sport yet, it wasn’t put on the list.

“It’s a lot more complicated because it’s a contact sport. Even if we were to open with just strength and conditioning training some of the troop may drop it because they come to do stunts and they can do those at their gymnastics or dance classes.”