A charity has had to postpone one of its main fundraising events after the government tightened restrictions on indoor sports this week.
Cure Leukaemia had already cancelled its GT15 cycling race, which was expected to raise £1m.
It has now had to reschedule its Copa Del CL, a six-a-side football tournament that was expected to raise £50,000 for the charity, for 16 October.
Earlier this week the government announced a series of additional social distancing restrictions in response to an increase in coronavirus cases across the country, including a ban on indoor sports involving more than six people.
The charity has postponed the tournament to March 2021.
Copa Del CL sees amateur footballers play against former professionals. This year, the list included former strikers Darren Bent and Chris Sutton.
All events cancelled or moved
Cure Leukaemia said all its major fundraising events this year have now been cancelled or postponed. These include two key cycling events fundraising for the charity, the GT15 and the London 2 Paris.
The former involved former footballer and patron of the charity Geoff Thomas riding the full Tour de France with a team of amateur cyclists, one day ahead of the professionals. It aimed to raise £1m and has now been postponed to July 2021, like the Tour de France itself.
The charity had an income of £2.2m in 2019 and is now facing a £1.5m shortfall.
James McLaughlin, CEO of Cure Leukaemia, said: “We were very hopeful that the Copa Del CL could take place this year, but with the new government restrictions on indoor sports announced we cannot deliver this event.
“This postponement means that all of our events in 2020 have now been cancelled or moved to a new date and this clearly has a major impact on our fundraising for this year.
“With a shortfall of £1.5m, this clearly puts a huge amount of pressure on us as a charity, but I am delighted that we have been able to announce a rescheduled date in March next year and also confirm that the majority of ex-professionals and teams can attend this new date.”
