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Avid basketball players in Tampines North won’t be able to throw a few hoops on neighborhood courts for now after authorities responded to multiple complaints from residents about player behavior.
According to a recent Facebook post by Tampines GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Baey Yam Keng, he has been receiving photographic evidence of people playing basketball or sepak takraw playing in close contact and loitering the courts without masks.
Other complaints range from noise disturbances until the wee hours of the morning, widespread littering and failure to respect social distancing rules by having more than five players at a time. Even when the Tampines City Council tried to close the neighborhood courts temporarily, some people ignored the cordons. The large crowds were still returning when the courts reopened.
As such, the Tampines North hard courts will now be closed for a longer period of time, exactly two months. To ensure that no one can use the facilities, the basketball hoops and sepak takraw net posts will be completely removed.
It’s not an ideal solution, Baey said, but it makes sense for the broader public interest, especially when Covid-19 transmission rates within the community are getting lower by the day.
Complaints on Yishun
In Yishun, authorities are responding to residents’ complaints in the same way by closing access to basketball courts last month.
Shin Min Daily News reported that complaints have been made about large gatherings of teenagers playing on a sheltered basketball court along Yishun Ring Road.
“To minimize the risk of the spread of Covid-19 in the community, the basketball hoop is currently sealed and the court will be closed for basketball activity until further notice,” a closure notice posted on the court reads. .
A resident who spoke to Zaobao noted that up to 30 people have been gathering on the court, with teenagers smoking, chatting and playing games until midnight.
In another part of Yishun, a basketball player is not very happy with the preventive measures taken.
“Don’t be an idiot and decorate the earrings,” the person wrote on the Facebook group page Complaint Singapore on October 19, objecting that the earrings in Yishun Nature Park are blocked. He seems to believe it was the work of an aggrieved resident.
Measures have been slow in coming as authorities have repeatedly called on the public to respect current public health regulations when exercising outdoors.
In August, the Minister of Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, said she received numerous comments about violations of security measures in public spaces, such as playing fields located in several HDB properties.
City councils are monitoring the situation closely, he said, but if residents continue to defy the rules, they will block access to community facilities.
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