Royal Melbourne To Institute "No Jab, No Play" Policy

The Age’s Noel Towell and Samantha Hutchinson report on Royal Melbourne’s first-in-Australia (and anywhere I know of) with a “no jab, no play” policy.

Club captain Andrew Kirby alerted the membership in an email obtained by The Age and he did not soft-pedal the renowned club’s stance on receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.

“We got incredibly strong support from the members, an amazing number of notes and passionate support from staff and from other clubs,” Mr Kirby said.

“We’ve got lots of rules in golf and here’s another one. If you want to play, you’ll have to be vaccinated. At least one jab, then two and of course there’ll be a system of registration.”

Kirby, whose day job is commercial litigation barrister, says Royal Melbourne expects most if not all clubs in the state to introduce no-jab no play mandates as the sport continues its efforts to convince Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Premier Daniel Andrews that courses can re-open safely.