Christmas, Football and Covid: What Grounds Will Be Welcoming Fans in 2020 ?— Chris Norminton
By: Chris Norminton
Tags: Sports, Chris Norminton, Banking, Cashless

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to cause massive disruption to the lives of everybody in the UK and throughout the world. Christmas would normally be a time to ‘get together’ with family and friends. 2020 will be different and it will impact the huge Boxing day football program in the UK.

What are the rules regarding football grounds welcoming fans?

The answer to this question is “it depends where in the country the stadium is”. The UK government has introduced a ‘tier’ system which identifies various parts of the country as being:

Tier 1 — A Medium Risk Area

Tier 2 — A High-Risk Area

Tier 3 — A High-Risk area

Tier 4 — A Very High-Risk Area

In alignment with the above tier system people will be able to attend football stadiums in the following numbers:

In tier 1 the maximum allowed attendance for an outside football match would be 4,000 people or 50% of the stadium capacity (whichever is the smaller). In tier 2 the maximum is 2,000 fans (or 50% as above). No spectators are allowed to attend games taking place in tier 3 and 4 stadiums.

People in the South East of the country for example are restricted from non-essential travel due to coronavirus restrictions in Tier 4. Although it is not a good outcome, it is to ensure the safety of people is maintained and the infection rate is kept as low as possible.

How are football clubs handling the situation?

The clubs which are located in tier 1 and 2 areas are inviting their season ticket holders to apply, on a first-come, first-served, basis, in order to be considered for a ticket for a particular match. Most of which would be the premier league and Europa League.

Social distancing is strongly enforced with seating spread to allow at least a 1-meter distance between all seated supporters. In addition to this, rapid testing may come into force in the near future to ensure that no fans are tested positive and if this is the came are to go home immediately with everyone else surrounded to follow the same advice.

The clubs have mostly decided not to serve food and drink within the stadiums in order to assist with social distancing requirements. Those who are able to obtain tickets for a particular match are advised to arrive at the ground earlier than they normally would in order to comply with any extra checks which may be required by stadium staff.

There is a ‘recommendation’ to wear a face mask during the times that the spectators are interacting within and around the stadium.

Sporting event financial expert, Chris Norminton has worked with many clubs, both prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic, to allow the introduction of ‘cashless’ transactions which are safer than using notes and coins as these are possibly spreading the virus as they change hands.

As the vaccination program within the UK gets underway, companies such as those of Chris Norminton will no doubt be required to provide support to the football and other sporting clubs who wish to create ‘cashless’ stadiums.

Christmas and beyond

There is no doubt that the pandemic has led to people changing the ways in which they do so many things. Online purchases have soared with the use of ‘home delivery’ services for food and other items becoming well established.

Within the sporting context, stadiums have been moving towards becoming ‘cashless’ for some time and the pandemic will only accelerate that process. The likes of Chris Norminton will be in demand to allow even the smaller clubs to develop cashless stadiums.

As the world moves on to the ‘new normal’, cashless commerce will become the norm rather than the exception. Maybe we will see this more clearly in stadiums during the Christmas program of 2021.