| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards 00:12 - Sep 24 with 1898 views | catch74 |
with football crowds. Feels like we’ve drawn the shortest of short straws.
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 06:04 - Sep 24 with 1826 views | Chrisd |
With the numbers they are dealing with in the USA, the Dallas Cowboys had 21k watching their NFL fixture against the Atalanta Falcons at the AT&T stadium on Sunday. |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:11 - Sep 24 with 1782 views | pointofblue |
Is this all because other nations have a much more effective test and trace system than us? | |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:17 - Sep 24 with 1775 views | Steve_M |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:11 - Sep 24 by pointofblue |
Is this all because other nations have a much more effective test and trace system than us? |
Well, quite. This might be paywalled but the FT had a report on Italy's progress yesterday:
https://www.ft.com/content/6831be3e-2711-4ea3-8f62-daa82cf9ca11
Workplace testing,a airport testing, clear rules and very good observance of them.
Oddly that works better than the Health minister just appointing one of his mates and outsourcing as much as possible to serial failures like Serco and Deloitte, |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:22 - Sep 24 with 1756 views | pointofblue |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:17 - Sep 24 by Steve_M |
Well, quite. This might be paywalled but the FT had a report on Italy's progress yesterday:
https://www.ft.com/content/6831be3e-2711-4ea3-8f62-daa82cf9ca11
Workplace testing,a airport testing, clear rules and very good observance of them.
Oddly that works better than the Health minister just appointing one of his mates and outsourcing as much as possible to serial failures like Serco and Deloitte, |
And for all the arguments about the British being ‘freedom loving’, we’re not the ones who lynched our PM from the nearest lamp post within the last century. Public compliance started to fall apart after Cummings held on despite committing clear breaches - the one rule for all was clear to see and, quite understandably, people won’t respect those who set rules but who cannot be bothered to initiate them on their allies. | |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:30 - Sep 24 with 1738 views | homer_123 |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 06:04 - Sep 24 by Chrisd |
With the numbers they are dealing with in the USA, the Dallas Cowboys had 21k watching their NFL fixture against the Atalanta Falcons at the AT&T stadium on Sunday. |
When you say 'dealing with' - in what sense do you mean? |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:33 - Sep 24 with 1732 views | StokieBlue |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 06:04 - Sep 24 by Chrisd |
With the numbers they are dealing with in the USA, the Dallas Cowboys had 21k watching their NFL fixture against the Atalanta Falcons at the AT&T stadium on Sunday. |
Which is surely a ridiculous thing to have allowed wouldn't you agree?
Not sure we should base anything on what the US are implementing.
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| Avatar - IC410 - Tadpoles Nebula |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:33 - Sep 24 with 1731 views | Chrisd |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:30 - Sep 24 by homer_123 |
When you say 'dealing with' - in what sense do you mean? |
That's my point. | |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:35 - Sep 24 with 1726 views | StokieBlue |
It totally depends on the measures in place in the countries. Italy is doing well at the moment but allowing fans back in France and Spain seems like a ridiculous move that will lead to spikes.
To be honest allowing 25000 fans in Italy also seems like madness to me - there is no way that can be socially distanced in cities like Milan and Rome where everyone has to get there by public transport.
Let's see if it was a good idea in a months time.
SB | |
| Avatar - IC410 - Tadpoles Nebula |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:37 - Sep 24 with 1713 views | Chrisd |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:33 - Sep 24 by StokieBlue |
Which is surely a ridiculous thing to have allowed wouldn't you agree?
Not sure we should base anything on what the US are implementing.
SB |
With their COVID situation and numbers, yes seems plain daft. | |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:52 - Sep 24 with 1673 views | Guthrum |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 06:04 - Sep 24 by Chrisd |
With the numbers they are dealing with in the USA, the Dallas Cowboys had 21k watching their NFL fixture against the Atalanta Falcons at the AT&T stadium on Sunday. |
Worth noting that's only 25% capacity. American football stadia are vast. |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:00 - Sep 24 with 1661 views | Chrisd |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:52 - Sep 24 by Guthrum |
Worth noting that's only 25% capacity. American football stadia are vast. |
Dallas' stadium capacity can be adjusted. It has seating for 80,000, which I suppose you can argue is roughly 25%, but has standing room available too so the attendance could be in excess of 100,000. [Post edited 24 Sep 2020 8:01]
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:07 - Sep 24 with 1647 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:35 - Sep 24 by StokieBlue |
It totally depends on the measures in place in the countries. Italy is doing well at the moment but allowing fans back in France and Spain seems like a ridiculous move that will lead to spikes.
To be honest allowing 25000 fans in Italy also seems like madness to me - there is no way that can be socially distanced in cities like Milan and Rome where everyone has to get there by public transport.
Let's see if it was a good idea in a months time.
SB |
Have Italy been doing anything particularly differently to be in a better position? |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:21 - Sep 24 with 1630 views | homer_123 |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:07 - Sep 24 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Have Italy been doing anything particularly differently to be in a better position? |
See Steve's reply below. | |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:26 - Sep 24 with 1627 views | itfcjoe |
The Colchester chairman wrote a good letter about it yesterday, basically saying it's ridiculous that they have been working with Safety Advisory Group for months on end, spending out a load of money, getting things Covid safe - and now just being overruled with no real detail. All other businesses are being told to get Covid secure to trade sports clubs are being denied that opportunity
https://www.cu-fc.com/news/2020/september/robbies-letter-to-pm/
Dear Boris
I wrote to Colchester United’s local MP, Will Quince, exactly two weeks ago to explain the extraordinary lengths we were going to so that we can get paying supporters back into our stadium.
I provided him with a link, which you can read by clicking here, which is to an article I wrote for our supporters detailing the changes we have made for their safe return. These include changes to:
1. Our ticketing system which we have had to completely revamp.
2. Our seating areas where we have removed 1800 seats just so that we can ensure no fan has to even brush past another unless they are in the same support bubble.
3. The areas that surround our stadium to provide additional space and ensure attendees can move around the stadium whilst complying with the social distancing requirements.
The main reason for that letter to Will Quince was to request that the alcohol restrictions are lifted whilst we are only allowing home supporters into our stadium because we could see how that would increase safety even further.
Therefore, I’m sure you can imagine how devastated I was yesterday to hear that you have taken a broad brush approach which has rendered all of that work in vain and has stopped us from doing the one fundamental thing that all businesses need to do and that is trade.
Whilst working towards the return of our fans, we have totally understood the need for safety and we have taken all of the measures required to ensure our stadium is safe
However, with this one decision you have not only threatened the livelihoods of the staff at Colchester United and the local businesses that rely on our club, and not only those staff and local businesses of every other football club in the EFL, but those of every club across every sport in the UK.
I appreciate you must be very busy and you are having to make very difficult decisions but this was one area where you didn’t need to do a thing because we had it all under control and everything is in place to allow professional clubs to open safely.
As a professional football club, we are compelled to comply with the regulations, guidance and measures of the Sports Ground Safety Authority and we can’t open our stadiums unless a Safety Advisory Group, (SAG), made up of relevant representatives including medical professionals certify us as being safe.
The SAG use their expertise to determine on a club by club basis if our stadiums are fit to open our gates to the public and how many of the public are safe to attend.
This process hasn’t just been introduced during the pandemic, it has been in place for all of the fourteen years that I have owned a football club. It’s the responsible way in which we operate our stadiums at all times.
The SAGs understand the risk that COVID-19 represents and they have detailed knowledge of each and every professional football stadium in the UK.
They can determine at what levels those stadiums can operate safely. There is absolutely no reason for the Government to apply a rule that rides roughshod over the expertise of the SAGs.
It astounds me that a Government that introduces a ‘Whack a Mole’ approach to locking down those areas that represent a higher risk can’t introduce a system that recognises areas where the risk is much lower.
I suggest your Government quickly returns the responsibility for deciding how many attendees I can have at Colchester United fixtures from October to the Safety Advisory Groups because they have experience in these specific matters and know exactly what they are doing.
However, just so I understand it when I’m having to lay off even more staff, can someone explain to me again how I can safely sit in a confined aeroplane with 300 other passengers and I can safely eat inside a restaurant or drink inside a pub until 10pm but I can’t safely attend a football match which is predominately outside and has been certificated as safe by a SAG?
Robbie Cowling — Chairman, Colchester United Football Club |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:31 - Sep 24 with 1612 views | mikeybloo88 |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:11 - Sep 24 by pointofblue |
Is this all because other nations have a much more effective test and trace system than us? |
But spectators at a match here would be known and easily tracked and traced if necessary. There is no reason a few thousand fans could not be safely allowed back into grounds, which would make a huge difference to lower league teams. It is crazy to allow 6 people to sit at a table in a bar, but those same 6 cannot sit 5m apart at an open air stadium. |  | | |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 09:42 - Sep 24 with 1553 views | BrixtonBlue |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 08:26 - Sep 24 by itfcjoe |
The Colchester chairman wrote a good letter about it yesterday, basically saying it's ridiculous that they have been working with Safety Advisory Group for months on end, spending out a load of money, getting things Covid safe - and now just being overruled with no real detail. All other businesses are being told to get Covid secure to trade sports clubs are being denied that opportunity
https://www.cu-fc.com/news/2020/september/robbies-letter-to-pm/
Dear Boris
I wrote to Colchester United’s local MP, Will Quince, exactly two weeks ago to explain the extraordinary lengths we were going to so that we can get paying supporters back into our stadium.
I provided him with a link, which you can read by clicking here, which is to an article I wrote for our supporters detailing the changes we have made for their safe return. These include changes to:
1. Our ticketing system which we have had to completely revamp.
2. Our seating areas where we have removed 1800 seats just so that we can ensure no fan has to even brush past another unless they are in the same support bubble.
3. The areas that surround our stadium to provide additional space and ensure attendees can move around the stadium whilst complying with the social distancing requirements.
The main reason for that letter to Will Quince was to request that the alcohol restrictions are lifted whilst we are only allowing home supporters into our stadium because we could see how that would increase safety even further.
Therefore, I’m sure you can imagine how devastated I was yesterday to hear that you have taken a broad brush approach which has rendered all of that work in vain and has stopped us from doing the one fundamental thing that all businesses need to do and that is trade.
Whilst working towards the return of our fans, we have totally understood the need for safety and we have taken all of the measures required to ensure our stadium is safe
However, with this one decision you have not only threatened the livelihoods of the staff at Colchester United and the local businesses that rely on our club, and not only those staff and local businesses of every other football club in the EFL, but those of every club across every sport in the UK.
I appreciate you must be very busy and you are having to make very difficult decisions but this was one area where you didn’t need to do a thing because we had it all under control and everything is in place to allow professional clubs to open safely.
As a professional football club, we are compelled to comply with the regulations, guidance and measures of the Sports Ground Safety Authority and we can’t open our stadiums unless a Safety Advisory Group, (SAG), made up of relevant representatives including medical professionals certify us as being safe.
The SAG use their expertise to determine on a club by club basis if our stadiums are fit to open our gates to the public and how many of the public are safe to attend.
This process hasn’t just been introduced during the pandemic, it has been in place for all of the fourteen years that I have owned a football club. It’s the responsible way in which we operate our stadiums at all times.
The SAGs understand the risk that COVID-19 represents and they have detailed knowledge of each and every professional football stadium in the UK.
They can determine at what levels those stadiums can operate safely. There is absolutely no reason for the Government to apply a rule that rides roughshod over the expertise of the SAGs.
It astounds me that a Government that introduces a ‘Whack a Mole’ approach to locking down those areas that represent a higher risk can’t introduce a system that recognises areas where the risk is much lower.
I suggest your Government quickly returns the responsibility for deciding how many attendees I can have at Colchester United fixtures from October to the Safety Advisory Groups because they have experience in these specific matters and know exactly what they are doing.
However, just so I understand it when I’m having to lay off even more staff, can someone explain to me again how I can safely sit in a confined aeroplane with 300 other passengers and I can safely eat inside a restaurant or drink inside a pub until 10pm but I can’t safely attend a football match which is predominately outside and has been certificated as safe by a SAG?
Robbie Cowling — Chairman, Colchester United Football Club |
I don't think he's going to get anywhere with his patronising tone towards the end.
I'd hate to stick up for the government but it isn't just about what goes on inside the stadiums. Thousands of fans on public transport would also be an issue. |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 09:49 - Sep 24 with 1535 views | NthQldITFC |
Or, to be fair, that our generally useless lot haven't made that particularly stupid decision. |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 09:54 - Sep 24 with 1526 views | hatch |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 09:42 - Sep 24 by BrixtonBlue |
I don't think he's going to get anywhere with his patronising tone towards the end.
I'd hate to stick up for the government but it isn't just about what goes on inside the stadiums. Thousands of fans on public transport would also be an issue. |
I think this is the salient point people are glossing over and thankfully it has been pointed out on here already. I work in the public transport sector and the difficulty of getting fans to and from the ground - particularly in London with limited parking - makes it incredibly difficult.
It's frustrating and hugely costly, but I trust it is necessary right now so not to spiral out of control. I'm more interested in how the govt are going to financially support sports teams - which would probably be necessary even if fans were to return in small numbers. |  | | |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 10:06 - Sep 24 with 1514 views | hype313 |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 09:42 - Sep 24 by BrixtonBlue |
I don't think he's going to get anywhere with his patronising tone towards the end.
I'd hate to stick up for the government but it isn't just about what goes on inside the stadiums. Thousands of fans on public transport would also be an issue. |
Agreed, isn't the biggest issue not the fans distancing in the stadiums, more down to the fact that you have 1000 plus all leaving at the same time. |  |
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| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 10:15 - Sep 24 with 1502 views | SomethingBlue |
| Interesting to see other European countries pushing forwards on 07:17 - Sep 24 by Steve_M |
Well, quite. This might be paywalled but the FT had a report on Italy's progress yesterday:
https://www.ft.com/content/6831be3e-2711-4ea3-8f62-daa82cf9ca11
Workplace testing,a airport testing, clear rules and very good observance of them.
Oddly that works better than the Health minister just appointing one of his mates and outsourcing as much as possible to serial failures like Serco and Deloitte, |
I was in Bergamo a few weeks back and it really was an eye-opener. The rules crystal clear, as you say, and outlined to me immediately by the people I was with. Genuinely didn't see *a single* person not wearing a mask where prescribed, or anyone failing to distance as required. And yet they were so much nearer to having a "normal" life than we are; going out both during the day and in the evenings it was absolutely striking. Clearly a mixture of precise, unambiguous instructions & policy from the government and a public uniformly happy to make small sacrifices in order (a) to live freely and (b) to ensure the tragedy of the spring does not happen again. Got back here and to be honest I felt ashamed. | |
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