IRMA, British Ice Skating and EIHA can now officially confirm that ice rinks in tier three will be allowed to open for elite athletes, professional dancers and choreographers, people with a disability, supervised activities for children and for formal education or training purposes. This means that rinks in England will be able to open for all supervised under 18 training.
Just over a week ago there was the very real prospect that ice rinks would have to close their doors to all in tier three areas. After days of hard work, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have confirmed that these exemptions have now been applied to allow rinks in tier three to open for certain activities.
Specific details on what that means for individual ice sports can be found on the British Ice Skating website or EIHA guidance that will be sent to club representatives.
This is a huge victory for ice sports in the continued fight to be recognised as a sport not entertainment. Thanks to the hard work and efforts from across the skating community we are pleased to now be recognised in line with rules governing the majority other sports. While we appreciate the exemptions granted by DCMS we will continue to work together to put pressure on government to allow rinks to open for individual exercise and exercise in single households or support bubbles for over 18s in tier three areas.
These changes would not have been possible without the letters sent to local MPs and councillors, your campaigning really made a difference. We would like place on record our thanks to everyone who fought so hard to help us arrive at this moment.