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Telegraph Exclusive?
Government under pressure to reopen grounds on same date as shopping centres and pub gardens
Exclusive: Sports venues told up to 10,000 fans would be able to return to stadiums on May 17, a month after shoppers and drinkers
The Government is to come under pressure from sports to bring forward the return of fans in line with the April 12 reopening of pub gardens and shopping centres.
Surrey County Cricket Club and two Football League clubs, speaking on condition of anonymity, are among those urging ministers to show flexibility over the scheduled May 17 allowance for 10,000 fans.
Whitehall is drawing up plans for crowd pilots to take place before that date, but senior sporting figures say there are unlikely to be more than 15 test events across the sport and leisure industry.
Richard Gould, chief executive at Surrey, is among those calling for small numbers of fans to be allowed in outdoor venues when shops, restaurant gardens, zoos, theme parks and drive-in cinemas reopen.
"We are going to inquire if we can get some crowds in from April 12 onwards," he told Telegraph Sport. "Given the likes of the Bullring and Westfield [shopping centres] will be opening, we're going to be questioning whether or not a County Championship crowd could gather outside in relatively small numbers. You can imagine, with 10 per cent capacity, 2,500 people for the Championship would be outstanding. If you've got 150,000 people a day in the Westfield, having a couple of thousand fans, sitting outside of the Oval doesn't doesn't seem incongruous or inconsistent."
I very much agree with what is being asked of the various Ministers regarding small tightly controlled crowds being allowed into sporting grounds. All County Cricket venues could easily deal with 10% max spectator capacity . I hope Notts are keenly supporting the bid , but their silence on the subject is deafening !
ReplyDeleteI respect the above view, but do not agree.
ReplyDeleteThe priority in my view is not cricket nor orther sport, but saving lives.
The latest figures still show Covid nationally costing circa 350 deaths a day.
Bitter experience shows how easily the numbers can rise again if we drop our guard.
There is a roadmap to open up again, and even that is rightly subject to review at every stage.
I have seen locally some renewed breaking of the current laws, so the risk is society, you and me, thinking this thing is beaten.
It is not yet, and cricket should not, in my view, be part of this dangerously lax attitude.