COUNCIL bosses are 'working to establish what happened' at York Acorn Rugby Club on the night of December 30, after a post-Christmas fundraising dinner was followed by an outbreak of Covid cases.

They have urged anyone at the club in Thanet Road, Foxwood, that night to get in touch.

As reported in The Press on January 14, at least 12 people fell ill with Covid after the event - among them the club's rugby chair Craig Lucas and his family. Mr Lucas confirmed earlier this month that 78 people had attended the event, which was held on the day before York moved from Tier 2 into Tier 3.

The club spoke with the police and council in advance, he said - and the event was organised in line with Tier 2 guidance, with pre-sold tickets, waitress service at socially distanced tables, and track and trace.

Mr Lucas told The Press that he himself had become ill the following day - and a test revealed he had Covid. The club immediately put its track and trace system in place, he said - and set up a Covid testing site so anyone who had been to the event could get tested. He said he thought that 12 Covid cases had resulted from the event.

The dinner was part of a series of events the club laid on over Christmas, which it described collectively as the 'York Acorn Christmas Spectacular'. The advertised events, all described as 'ticket only' and 'social distanced', included local artist Charlie Grace on December 20, the Adam Parker Brown Christmas Party Show on December 24 and Kayleigh Louise on Boxing Day.

An event planned for New Year's Day was cancelled after York moved into Tier 3.

There was an angry reaction online after The Press broke the news of the December 30 event and of the Covid cases that followed.

"I just hope these people aren't adding to the load already bringing nurses to their knees. How utterly selfish," said one commenter on Facebook.

"Hiding behind the 'it was Tier 2 regulations at the time' isn't good enough," added another. "Everyone knew the new variant was around."

There was support for the club, too, however. "A fantastic club that does a lot for the local community. Think we should stop the blame game and just all try our best to get through this pandemic best we can," said one Facebook commenter.

"I think the Acorn have been unlucky in as much as I suspect quite a few other venues will have held similar events," added another.

City of York Council said at the time that while it had provided advice on complying with Tier 2 restrictions, it had not approved the event.

In a statement this week, the council's head of public protection Matt Boxall said: ‘We are working to establish what happened at the club. We would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was there." He urged anyone who attended the December 30 event to email the council at public.protection@york.gov.uk.

The Press was unable to contact anyone from Acorn Rugby Club for comment.