Contact sports can resume training in Level 3, but no matches yet

Professional rugby and soccer teams in South Africa can resume training under Level 3 of the national lockdown regulations starting on Monday, 1 June, but they will not be allowed to resume matches. 

That was the message from sports minister Nathi Mthethwa on Saturday as he confirmed that professional contact sport will be allowed to resume training in a staggered, controlled manner. 

Non-contact professional sports, meanwhile, have been given the green light to resume training and playing.

All professional sports teams and administrators who want to resume training or playing now have 14 days to submit their proposals to government to map out, procedurally, how they will ensure the safety of the players and officials involved. 

All sport will take place behind closed doors in empty stadiums and the control measures are strict with massages, ice-baths and saunas banned while physiotherapists will only be able to work on injured athletes.