Return of football supporters is a kick in the ballots

© Simon Poulter 2019

It’s here. It’s actually here. The second of December, which means life in England returns to…well, not exactly normal. Since midnight, we’ve been placed into a revised system of tiers to keep us restricted without calling it a new lockdown. Non-essential shops, hairdressers and other businesses can reopen again. Tomorrow I will go for my first swim in four weeks, never really recalling the scientific wisdom of why I wasn’t allowed to go before, given that the local pool perfectly observed social distancing, disinfected the very ground you walked on and, while actually in the pool, engulfed you in wonderfully chlorinated water to keep COVID at bay.

Tonight, too, football will return. Well, I say ‘return’ but it’s never really been away, just the fans, the "12th player", as cliché-prone professionals have a habit of saying. After the initial halt caused by the pandemic, football returned in July - sans fans - and again in September after the briefest of summer breaks, again to empty stadia (albeit for an experiment at Brighton’s Amex Stadium with a friendly against Chelsea). Now, the football that was already back, is 'back', albeit in a limited form as grounds in England’s Tier 2 areas are opened up to up to a maximum of 2,000 supporters each. Grounds in Tier 1 areas will be allowed to host up to 4,000 spectators, which will be a boon to Truro City FC, Cowes Sports Football Club on the Isle of Wight (they play in the Wessex League Premier Division) and whatever professional clubs exist on the Scilly Isles. Not many, I suspect.

For the English Premier League, the return of people other than staff and club mascots is still only very partial. Essentially, the only clubs that can host fans are Arsenal, Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham and West Ham. Aston Villa, Burnley, Leeds, Leicester, Manchesters City and United, Newcastle, Sheffield United, West Brom and Wolves will all have to soldier on in deserted grounds, unless the Tier 3 restrictions imposed on their host cities are revised. With the tiering system either enabling or denying all English league and Women’s Super League clubs from opening, it all feels a little piecemeal. There is, also, the argument that those clubs who can now bring fans in, will be at an unfair advantage to those who can not. Plenty of players have spoken throughout this weird period about how the lack of crowds to buzz off impacts their performance, and it was noticeable that when games did resume after the lockdown in empty grounds, the quality of the football was below par.

Picture: Twitter/@CAFofficial

From a financial point of view, allowing 2,000 fans in is hardly going to boost the coffers of clubs whose grounds hold ten or 20 times that number (even if Chelsea - who probably need the money the least - are charging a whopping £75 for balloted tickets in one of their stands). 

For precarious clubs like Charlton Athletic, who will be amongst the first to host fans under the new rules, tonight at The Valley, it could be helpful, but hardly a lifesaver. But, even if it's only 2,000 fans entering a 27,000-seat stadium (and with a large fanbase in Tier 3 Kent, who will not be allowed to travel in to south-east London), I suppose it's foot traffic through the turnstiles of some kind.

While I’d be the first to admit that not going to Stamford Bridge every other weekend for the last nine months has been a price worth paying for my health, the absence of 'live' football has left a gap in my life over the course of a third of last season and a third of this one. The thing is, there’s a difference between 42,000 people at the Bridge, and a number closer to the school assembly attendance of a large comprehensive. Watching games on television is fine - we do it for away games or for cup matches we’d prefer to watch from the comfort of our sofas - but there is no substitute for being in the stadium. It's the rituals and traditions you miss: the pre-match pint, the arguments over spurious offside decisions, and the vehement disagreement with callers to 606 while stuck in traffic on the way home.

For those who do get tickets to see their clubs under the new protocols, the experience will be a lot different to what they’re used to. Each club will impose a code of conduct, based on guidance from the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. Along with requiring fans to wear facemarks when entering and leaving grounds, and while moving around them, some are likely to put even more health and safety requirements in place. Tomorrow night’s Europa League tie between Arsenal and Rapid Vienna at the Emirates will carry a very strict ruling on alcohol (“only available when purchased with a substantial food item and when seated at a table”) and on physical contact: “Avoid hugs, high-fives, handshakes and any close contact with people who are not within your group.” 

Liverpool has already asked supporters to “act responsibly” when “celebrating or engaging in key moments of the match”, reminding supporters that “COVID-19 spreads more easily when people stand, sing and shout”. Anfield, it shouldn’t be forgotten, played host to the alleged 'superspreader' event in March when Liverpool played (and were beaten by) Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, a game played before a capacity crowd that included 3,000 fans who’d travelled from Spain, just as Spain’s own coronavirus rate was going through the roof. On the same day as 54,000 people packed into Anfield, not to mention the pubs and chip shops around the streets bordering on Stanley Park, the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, expressing “deep concern” for “the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.” The day before, Madrid had closed its schools as infection rates in the Spanish capital had gone through the roof.

© Simon Poulter 2019

My last visit to Stamford Bridge was a couple of days before the Liverpool-Atlético fixture, for Chelsea’s home league meeting with Everton. The gaps in our area of the East Stand were noticeable. In fact, the entire row below us was empty. Normally, when the dad and son who sit right in front leave ten minutes before the end you suddenly become aware of the cold wind. This time, we had it for the full 90 minutes. For those regulars who were there, there was awkwardness, as no one knew whether to shake hands (as is the custom) or bump elbows. No one, though, knew what was about to come, either.

For those lucky enough to win a balloted ticket under the new routine, the experience is certainly going to be odd. Tickets will be for carefully designated areas, the social distancing we’ve all grown used to over the last nine months will be applied, and fans will also have to adjust to sitting somewhere different. OK, minor inconveniences for the sake of getting to see live football again. But will people really respect the “respiratory etiquette”, as Ken Scott, head of inspectorate at the SGSA, described it to The Times yesterday? Shouting and singing would not be prohibited, he said, but it was important for fans to respect the people sitting around them. “I feel confident, however, that we will see supporters demonstrate that they can be trusted and surprise the doubting Thomases,” he said. We shall see.