‘Government Sources’, when quoted in mainstream media are normally a pretty reliable guide as to what is coming from the corridors of power. When that is escalated to ‘Senior Government Sources,’ it can be considered as pretty much a done deal.

Senior sports administrators will be heartened this morning by the noises coming out from a meeting of coalition leaders last night which strongly hinted that the current restrictions of 5,000 as a maximum on attendance at outdoor gatherings would be ending on or before January 31st marker that was laid down before Christmas.

The first full stadium that is currently at risk but which must now be hopeful is the opening weekend of the Guinness Six Nations when Ireland will host Wales at the Aviva Stadium.

That game will take place on Saturday, February 5th, the same weekend as the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown and the second weekend of action in the Allianz Leagues in the GAA.

The U20 Six Nations clash between the same countries will take place in Cork’s Musgrave Park on Friday night of the same weekend.

Those sources are said to be hoping to give indications to stakeholders this week, most likely after the meeting and report to the Government of NPhet on Thursday.

The indications are that the current wave of infection has passed its peak and that the additional protection of vaccination and boosters has prevented it from impacting hospital admissions.

We have been here before so cannot yet get too far ahead of ourselves but the planning for the Rugby matches has been on the basis of accomodating a full stadium and with ticket distribution controlled through clubs and other units of the IRFU it should be possible to make the logistics work.

We wrote on Sport for Business last week on how the Scottish Government had moved from behind closed doors to a full stadium position and how the evidence this was based on could be used to put a similar shift in place here.

Now we just have to wait and hope that this year’s sporting calendar will be one of a more traditional, full-throated look than has been possible in each of the last two years.

Any changes to capacity limits are unlikely to be introduced in time for this weekend’s AIB All Ireland Club Hurling Championship Semi-Finals or the National Cup Basketball Finals at the National Basketball Arena which will both operate under existing restrictions.