Petition: Allow football fans to attend matches at all levels
Anything's worth a shot at this point https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/552036
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Anything's worth a shot at this point https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/552036
Comments
I know the rules are crazy and inconsistent but anything that appears to give any succour to Baker and all of those barking 'this is oppression' backbenchers I will avoid.
Totally agree @Wendoverman.
It’s also clumsily written. I’m sure Micra would disapprove.
@glasshalffull yes it is but the sentiment is right
@chairboyscentral - signed
Unfortunately while this corrupt incompetent govt continue to use track and trace as a way of funneling money to their mates rather than creating the necessary system to allow us to get back to some kind of normal, I'm not willing to give them any other excuse to ignore clinical advice and bow to populism which will kill people.
What @Username said.
Now we are getting more accurate infection figures, it's even more worrying. Fourteen and a half thousand today FFS!
Haven't signed it for the same reasons as above and would probably be reluctant to attend yet despite missing it and having paid for it. We can't just ignore covid because we're bored of it , even if the inconsistency in individual bans is ridiculous, biased and wrong, which of course it is.
I'm not sure I often agree with @Username but that sounds about right.?
Think we can read this as them noting their own lack of sway with either the government or the Prem
Has anyone here actually installed the Serco Test & Trace app on their phone?
Don't think Serco were involved in the actual app, but I've got it. To my relatively untrained eye it's about as basic as it can be (not necessarily a bad thing) could have been knocked up in no time for next to nothing by any competent tech house.
Serco are in receipt of any data in can get out of you though.
Not a cat in hell's chance of me ever installing it @drcongo
I downloaded the Kings College London Covid app months ago but will have nothing to do with the Government one.
It won’t do what it should, I don’t trust them with the data and downloading it, to me, will only encourage their continued incompetence
It refused to install on my iPhone until I downloaded some iOS software. I gave up and, from all that’s occurred since, probably just as well.
If crowds don't go back, clubs die. It can be done safely and needs to be done. The inconsistency absolutely stinks.
"If crowds go back, people die" is the other way of looking at it I guess.
Hence you do it in a rigorously controlled way - probably more so than in any other setting. I don't see how letting even 1,000 fans into 10,000-capacity Adams Park can't be managed.
Well yes, but even I would rather football clubs die than people, which is the choice until we have an effective track and trace system (or vaccine further down the line).
Any group activity being safe is quite frankly nonsense, safer than it was yes, absolutely safe when there could be any number of infected people going and a large number of idiots who will deliberately flout the rules? no.
The rules are seemingly devoid of much logic, but the main point of them to me is to let some businesses do as much as they can get away with without seeming too reckless to the average idiot, and therefore the govt can not give out support, rather than actually because of any scientific reasoning.
The scientific advice has always been to not reopen up until a sufficient track and trace system is in place. The govt haven't bothered doing that so....
Even at the Chesham game there were people flouting the rules proudly, clubs can't police these things, are they really going to kick out people for getting too close after a goal goes in?
I don't think you can compare a semi-pro club with a professional one - and a ground with almost no seating to all/majority-seaters. I was at the Chesham game so know exactly what you mean - there was no control leaving the ground either - but you'd have a much, much tighter operation at Adams Park. They're going to have to kick people out if they take the piss.
It's not just the absolute piss takers that are the problem though, even though that will be a significant problem, because the process of getting them out can easily cause a super spreader event in itself.
It's the usually innocent unconscious reactions that people will have at the match (hugging people they've not seen, celebrating a goal together, shouting loudly, the meetings in the pub before, the toilets, the tea bar etc etc)
That make gathering a larger number of people during a period of fairly quickly rising infections a bad idea full stop.
There was more chance a couple of months back when numbers were lower, and we really should be in a position now where pretty much every person with Covid symptoms has every contact traced and those people wouldn't be allowed entry, but we're not.
We're realistically heading towards an almost total national lockdown again , whether they want to call it that or not, there's no clinical reason to now allow mass gatherings, other than that people have run out of patience.
Most clubs permitted crowds would be a limited number of season ticket holders though wouldn't it? Can't see how that massively helps out financially, if at all
I am coming around to actually shutting football down again for a while if it were my choice.
I'd love to go back to matches but I am not sure how it would work. The terrace would have to be closed. I am nervous of the effects of alcohol on social distancing. I am not sure what atmosphere would be generated.
Most importantly I am not sure how a limited opening helps the club financially?
Surely the lucky few would be season ticket holders so the club already have their money. The costs of opening the stadium and setting up any safety measures would cost. Where does the club benefit financially.
Maybe those not so near the high risk categories can afford to risk a bit more. I don't see how the game can continue in this sterile (in more ways than one) environment but is trying to go nearer to normal the right way?
@chairboyscentral the Wycombe business model is based on 'maximising match day revenue'. In other words, getting people to the ground early and leave late and spend the bit in-between when not watching the match eating and drinking.
So let's say we were allowed 2,000 fans back in the ground. The club wouldn't make a penny in ticket sales because they've already banked that in season tickets. But they would have to pay out for vastly increased casual labour with lots more stewards, not least to ensure effective segregation of the crowd (probably from the beginning of Hillbottom Road) and effective ingress and egress to and from the stadium itself.
The club could try to sell lots of beer beforehand. But is that really the responsible thing to do when it needs supporters to stay sensible and safe? It would have to be table service only anyway - do we have the space for that in our lounges? How many more casual bar staff would we have to employ? And what do we do about the toilet situation? Most are in the ground where beer isn't allowed. We'd have to install lots of portaloos at cost and in the limited car parking spaces. And pay attendants to sanitise each one after each use. Which is all probably a non starter.
My biggest fear would be when the final whistle blew. How many are going to stay in their seats for maybe 30 more minutes in the freezing cold and after perhaps a dispiriting defeat to avoid getting close to each other as they filed out? I think this would be next to impossible to enforce.
So, while it would be nice to go back and watch football, it would be dangerous and it may well cost the club money rather than help it survive. I just think we need to be realistic. We're in the middle of a global pandemic. Sacrifices have to be made. Watching every Wycombe match on TV in a centrally heated home is hardly the greatest sacrifice, either. At least you can get a beer without queuing and hopefully to the toilet too.
Good point about it only being ST holders getting in anyway, so what would the large financial difference be?
Everyone (not a politician) predicted a spike when schools went back and university returned...and now they are pretending that its just local spikes when we all know another lockdown is coming. As others have noted serco, g4s, and so on getting contracts was more important when numbers were low than actually acting in the national good and establishing a proper track and trace system. I assume they are letting bored incompetent Boris stumble on through this and the oncoming Brexit car crash before they get shot and bung in sunak.
Out of interest, is Republican Rob backing Trump for re-election? Does he agree with his President that wearing face masks is an arbitrary, inconsistent policy as well?