Football crowds coming back? (October. Update - paused)

[Devongreenowl]

We are in a totally different place than we were in March. We are now able to test up to 200,000 people a day. Masks and sanitiser are easily available. Electronic temperature testing is relatively straight forward and could be carried out by security staff on each turnstile. Obviously late comers risk not getting in for kick off. Any person displaying symptoms would be refused entry or ejected. I’m afraid repeated coughing and sneezing at football, whether Covid related or not, will quite rightly be unacceptable.

The latest measures will give the Government a clear indication as to when and if they can move to the next level which would possibly be no social distancing at all, but with outdoor sports gatherings coming before indoor concerts etc. If the present good weather, leads to the obvious increases in numbers in beaches and parks etc, without any significant increase in the infection rate, then those scientists who say the virus is running out of steam will be right and those who talk about a second wave will possibly be wrong. Whatever happens, it’s seems clear there will be no return to the lockdown we have just experienced.

Who would be Boris Johnson or any of his ministers? Whatever they do or say, there will be an army of people ready to criticise. No win situation. Credit to Keir Starmer so far for the way he has conducted himself in opposition.

 

[The Doctor]

Thinking it through a bit more, I don't think even 25 percent can be achieved.
To get 1 metre distancing everyone needs to be sat in the middle of a circle or bubble 2 meters wide.
Also pandemics often have 2 legs, killing the most in autumn.

Yes. Being pedantic and mathemagical, 1m distancing can be obtained if people sit in the middle of a 1m diameter circle such that they are then 0.5m + 0.5m = 1m away from any of their nearest neighbours. Obviously that assumes that people are infinitely thin (which is definitely not the case at Home Park or any other football ground for that matter) so we'd need to add on another 20cm or so to the circle diameter... But sitting in circular bubbles is wasteful of space as there are many dead spaces between neighbouring bubbles. A better arrangement would be hexagonal bubbles (I could calculate the minimum side length if you really wanted me too... but the distance from the centre to each side has to be 0.7m using the same assumption about person width as above or 0.5m for infinitely thin imaginary people). Obviously Home Park isn't set up for circular bubbles or hexagonal bubbles so neither of the above arrangements work. I think the distance between neighbouring seats and neighbouring rows is too small to allow their simultaneous use by anyone not from the same household so it's definitely looking like alternate seats on alternate rows. You get slightly better distancing if you offset the seats used in alternate rows (i.e. if even numbered seats are used in row A then you use odd seats in row C assuming that the numbers start together and the seats are aligned on a rectangular grid).

 

[Allanon]

One huge problem with letting a certain percentage (not all), of people back into football grounds is that once they are there all common sense goes out the window. A large percentage feel it is totally appropriate to ignore regulations, and do whatever the hell they want. They cannot (or will not) do as instructed, will devolve to their neanderthal state and be utter morons. Such is the way of a percentage (not all) of football supporters. always has been and always will be (in modern society).

 

[Devongreenowl]

One huge problem with letting a certain percentage (not all), of people back into football grounds is that once they are there all common sense goes out the window. A large percentage feel it is totally appropriate to ignore regulations, and do whatever the hell they want. They cannot (or will not) do as instructed, will devolve to their neanderthal state and be utter morons. Such is the way of a percentage (not all) of football supporters. always has been and always will be (in modern society).

That’s true Allanon, but I suppose the same applies on beaches, in parks, on protest marches not just football. One would hope that there would be less tolerance of it now, for instance just like racism or homophobic behaviour gets pointed out in football grounds. I think people would be much more supportive for instance, of people having their season tickets suspended for repeated disruptive behaviour. I accept though that if for instance it was a requirement to wear a face mask to get in, there would be an element who would remove them as soon as they were inside. Clubs are probably going to have to employ more stewards and use their cctv systems properly to identify offenders. Much easier if they’ve taken their masks off!

 

[Allanon]

One huge problem with letting a certain percentage (not all), of people back into football grounds is that once they are there all common sense goes out the window. A large percentage feel it is totally appropriate to ignore regulations, and do whatever the hell they want. They cannot (or will not) do as instructed, will devolve to their neanderthal state and be utter morons. Such is the way of a percentage (not all) of football supporters. always has been and always will be (in modern society).

That’s true Allanon, but I suppose the same applies on beaches, in parks, on protest marches not just football. One would hope that there would be less tolerance of it now, for instance just like racism or homophobic behaviour gets pointed out in football grounds. I think people would be much more supportive for instance, of people having their season tickets suspended for repeated disruptive behaviour. I accept though that if for instance it was a requirement to wear a face mask to get in, there would be an element who would remove them as soon as they were inside. Clubs are probably going to have to employ more stewards and use their cctv systems properly to identify offenders. Much easier if they’ve taken their masks off!

It does indeed apply across the spectrum of society, however football it appears, bring out the worst. Also at football they like to defend their actions more, (as is often seen on this site) as totally acceptable :crazy:

 

[warney]

This is why I don't think we'll see any fans returning any time soon. If so many people are acting so irresponsibly day to day how can they be trusted to do so on entering a football ground? I guess an argument would be that strict stewarding and policing could force fans to maintain proper procedures and distancing.
But it'll all be irrelevant anyway as there's bound to be a second wave due to the huge number of numpties who can't differentiate between a relaxing of rules and no rules at all. From the moment Johnson stood up and said "we must rely on the British public to use their common sense" it was obvious we were f****d!

 

[Tugboat]

So schools are set to announce no social distancing in classrooms soon.

Will this in turn relax other social gathering restrictions?

 

[warney]

So schools are set to announce no social distancing in classrooms soon.

Will this in turn relax other social gathering restrictions?

I think the theory with schools is infection transmission rates between children has been shown to be vanishingly small. So it wouldn't set any sort of precedent for other situations.

 

[ealinggreen]

Might change my season ticket from block 5 and get one in the uncovered section under the grandstand. Plenty of room and fresh air.I have never minded getting wet.

 

[Emeraldinho]

It’s going to happen by October or possibly even before. If the rate of infection keeps falling across the summer, there will be no good reason for it not to. Some of the inconsistencies in policy need sorting out. I mean, no cricket yet! What’s that all about? Infection on the ball. For gods sake.

Bonus! :thumbup: Tin hat on. :silent:

Surely a ban on away fans would need to be introduced to discourage travel from areas with higher infection rates and stop coaches with 50-60 people aboard being cooped together for hours at a time in very close proximity?

 

[mervyn]

My feeling is that a second wave is inevitable, and this will affect crowds immediately. I fear that there is a sizeable chunk of the population who think that ‘allowed’ means ‘safe’, with obvious consequences. Hope I’m wrong.

 

[djg145]

This is why I don't think we'll see any fans returning any time soon. If so many people are acting so irresponsibly day to day how can they be trusted to do so on entering a football ground? I guess an argument would be that strict stewarding and policing could force fans to maintain proper procedures and distancing.
But it'll all be irrelevant anyway as there's bound to be a second wave due to the huge number of numpties who can't differentiate between a relaxing of rules and no rules at all. From the moment Johnson stood up and said "we must rely on the British public to use their common sense" it was obvious we were f****d!

How would you control 'social distancing' (whatever it is at that time) under the Grandstand, the walk through as been reduced in size even more since the refurbishment.

 

[Argylegames]

How would you control 'social distancing' (whatever it is at that time) under the Grandstand, the walk through as been reduced in size even more since the refurbishment.

One way traffic?

 

[djg145]

How would you control 'social distancing' (whatever it is at that time) under the Grandstand, the walk through as been reduced in size even more since the refurbishment.

One way traffic?

Obviously depends on the number of Supporters allowed in the Grandstand to begin with - noone knows.

But there are 5 exits from the seating area into the vestibule, and of course quite alot of Supporters require to use the facilities inside the vestibule.

Whatever, it will need some working out, with regulations we have no idea how they will look.

 

[X Isle]

One huge problem with letting a certain percentage (not all), of people back into football grounds is that once they are there all common sense goes out the window. A large percentage feel it is totally appropriate to ignore regulations, and do whatever the hell they want. They cannot (or will not) do as instructed, will devolve to their neanderthal state and be utter morons. Such is the way of a percentage (not all) of football supporters. always has been and always will be (in modern society).

That’s true Allanon, but I suppose the same applies on beaches, in parks, on protest marches not just football. One would hope that there would be less tolerance of it now, for instance just like racism or homophobic behaviour gets pointed out in football grounds. I think people would be much more supportive for instance, of people having their season tickets suspended for repeated disruptive behaviour. I accept though that if for instance it was a requirement to wear a face mask to get in, there would be an element who would remove them as soon as they were inside. Clubs are probably going to have to employ more stewards and use their cctv systems properly to identify offenders. Much easier if they’ve taken their masks off!

It does indeed apply across the spectrum of society, however football it appears, bring out the worst. Also at football they like to defend their actions more, (as is often seen on this site) as totally acceptable :crazy:

Spot on.

If you can't get people to sit in the right seat number for allocated seated games... and they blather on afterwards justifying their blatantly selfish disregard for the rules.

If you can't get people to sit down despite reasoned appeals from elderly or infirm individuals sitting behind them... and they blather on afterwards justifying their blatant selfish disregard for the rules.

...how are you going to get them to wear a facemask, or leave a seat (or seats) between each other, or conform to a one way system for the bogs or the food kiosk etc.?

You aren't, which is why football crowds will be one of the last things to come back.

Cheers Boneheads :thumbup: