All ActiveSG Halls to Close Tomorrow (28 June) After COVID-19 Case Found Flouting Rules to Play Badminton

Yesterday, when it was reported that a person had flouted the COVID-19 rules by engaging in sports and social activities with a large group, we were all wondering: was he playing basketball? Soccer?

After all, those were the sports that usually have more than 5 people in a group.

Well, it turned out to be badminton.

Reader Bao: Wait, I might not be a badminton player, but last I know, even a doubles match comprises only 4 people

Right.

But the group the man was in didn’t just book one court. Not two. Not three.

They booked up to six badminton courts.

Image: Tenor

Which of course means this conversation might’ve taken place:

COVIDIOT-20: Eh, Bro, I thought the limit is 5 per group? We got 25 people leh. How ah?

COVIDIOT-21: Nevermind lah we just book six courts. Then make sure we’re always in a group of 5. Pretend we don’t know each other lah

COVIDIOT-22: Yalah no one will know unless one of us kena COVID-19 lah. HAHAHA.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

And because of that, law-abiding people who just want to sweat it out in a game of badminton are being punished too, because…

All ActiveSG Halls to Close Tomorrow (28 June) After COVID-19 Case Found Flouting Rules to Play Badminton

That’s gotta hurt.

The face of the fight against Lawrence Wong—I mean, the face of the fight against COVID-19, Lawrence Wong, has said this before:

  • Don’t exploit each and every rule to the fullest possible degree
  • Grasp the spirit of the rules instead

Guess someone didn’t receive the memo.

On 22 June 2020, which is the 4th day of Phase Two, a group of people have booked up to six badminton courts from 9am to 12pm in Jurong East Indoor Sport Hall.

And it’s not just that: there was even cross-mixing of players across multiple courts.

Even the cats in Jurong East know that it’s against the COVID-19 rules, because inter-group mixing is not allowed in all sports.

Heck, it’s not allowed in any social gathering—you can’t just combine your group and change members. This is not King of Fighters leh.

Follow us on Telegram for more informative & easy-to-read articles, or download the Goody Feed app for articles you can’t find on Facebook!

And SportSG isn’t happy.

They said, “SportSG views any violation of safe management measures very seriously as they compromise the entire national effort to minimise the risk of community transmission.

“SportSG is investigating this incident and will take strong action against the individual and the other players who have infringed the regulations, including barring them from the use of ActiveSG facilities henceforth.”

How come I can hear Lawrence Wong nodding ah?

And in view of this, all ActiveSG indoor sports halls will be closed tomorrow (just for a day) as a “time-out” and “to ensure that all users of ActiveSG’s Indoor Sport Halls understand the rules and spirit of the safe management measures.”

SportSG chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin said: “It is very disappointing that some members of the public had not adhered to the rules and circumvented the measures that were put in place by SportSG.

“We hope that this ‘time-out’ helps all of us to reflect on how we should work together. As much as we are excited to catch up with our friends and to keep active, we must do the right thing and abide by the rules and the spirit behind them. This way, we can ensure that our sport facilities can remain open, so that the community can continue to participate in sport and stay healthy.”

New Measures

For a start, Jurong East Indoor Sports Hall has been closed for “thorough disinfection and cleaning, and a review of the safe management measures in place,” and will reopen on Monday.

New measures will also be implemented in all halls—for example, staff would be looking at badminton players to ensure that there’s no large group and inter-mixing.

And to enforce that, each court will be issued coloured wrist bands that must be worn to show that you can only play in that particular court.

See lah, now must treat you like NSmen taking RTs le.

To stay in the loop about news in Singapore, you might want to subscribe to our YouTube channel whereby we’d update you about what’s happening here daily: