JRG update | 16-Mar-22

With Scotland’s legal COVID-19 restrictions ending next Monday, March 21, the Joint Response Group (“JRG”) can confirm that Scottish professional football clubs will revert to symptomatic testing only from then.

All remaining mandatory Covid protocols are also removed from that date, with the exception of face coverings, which the First Minister confirmed would remain in place in specific public settings until April.

The JRG would urge clubs to continue to adhere to best practice hygiene and sanitisation measures to minimise the potential for COVID-19 transmission within all club operations.

Clubs should take all reasonably practical steps in this regard, and maintain regular communication with supporters, including safe travel to and from stadia, as society learns to live with the virus.

Rod Petrie, Scottish FA President and JRG Chair: “Over the past two years the JRG has met habitually to help Scottish football stay safe amid the many manifestations of the COVID-19 virus.

“It has done so to provide guidance and evolving protocols that ensured the national game could continue to provide welcome relief from two national lockdowns and during the gradual return to normality.

“I would like to thank my JRG colleagues for their commitment to the process, to the Scottish Government and their health experts within the Elite Sports Covid Advisory Group [ESCAG] for their public health expertise and counsel, and to the clubs for adhering to the rigorous testing regime and protocols required to keep Scottish football safe and enjoyable for hundreds of thousands of fans across the country.”