Christopher BarrettThe Premier League, Rugby Football Union, All-England Club, Lawn Tennis Association and Silverstone Circuit are among ten of Britain’s leading sports organisations that have written to Government advising they support the use of Covid certification as a way of returning crowds to major sporting events.
In a letter to the prime minister Boris Johnson, and other party leaders including Keir Starmer, the sports bodies said they supported the review of the use of Covid certification for major events with the aim of reducing and then safely remove the requirement for social distancing.
“All of our sports can see the benefit that a Covid certification process offers in getting more fans safely back to their sport as quickly as possible. We know that our stadia can only be fully filled with an assurance process,” said the organisations in the letter, also signed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, English Football League, Scottish Professional Football League and Rugby Football League.
It continued, “This process must ensure that everyone can access stadia and must include arrangements that would verify a negative Covid test or an antibody test alongside vaccination certification.
“The final approach must not be discriminatory, should protect privacy, and have clear exit criteria.”
Planned sporting events as part of the Government’s Events Research Programme include the EFL Cup Final on 25 April with 8,000 fans, an FA Cup Semi-Final on 18 April with 4,000, and three mass participation 10k runs in the build up to the FA Cup Final on 15 May hosting an audience of 21,000 fans.
The Government has made a provision for large, outdoor seated, venues allowing up to 10,000 people or 25% of total seated capacity, whichever is lower. This provision can be used by venues with a seated capacity of 16,000 or above.
For outdoor venues with a lower capacity, audiences will be limited to a maximum of 4,000 or 50% of a site or venue’s capacity.