No half-time toilets, no away fans: talks held over supporters' return to grounds

Closing toilets at half-time, filling one in every three seats and a ban on away support are some of the ideas being considered to help get fans back into grounds next season.

It is expected that supporters will be allowed to return to English league stadiums in some form from September, if the progress of the coronavirus pandemic allows, but there are many challenges to making such an ambition work.

“Stage five” of the return of professional sport involves working groups from across the sector as well as public health officials, with reference to specialists in the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. Plans remain at an early stage but are being built around an assumption that grounds may be allowed to fill one-third of their capacity.

Watching the match gives authorities least concern, with sources party to some early meetings suggesting it has been argued that because fans will be facing the pitch the prospects of exhaling Covid-19 droplets on to their neighbours would be small. But the “brush past” risk when fans are moving around the ground is of greater concern.

That is why one idea under consideration is to close toilets at half-time. Customary queues could be eliminated if fans were forced to go during the game, a “nudge effect” that would help to regulate the movement of people. It is also expected that the “brush past” factor would mean seats towards the end of rows would be left unoccupied.

Another cause for congregation is half-time refreshment. One proposal would seek to change the Football Spectators Act to allow fans to drink alcohol in the stands, with staff bringing beer to the seats. In another move to prevent crowding, fans could be given tickets with a designated arrival time, with a window for providing contact details for potential track and trace.

As with the previous stages of the restart, government guidance will be interpreted by individual sports. In football it is anticipated that rules will likely be developed club by club depending on the size of ground, location and fanbase.

Given the limits on capacity, some clubs seem likely to want to bring in only home fans, with season-ticket holders first in line. The counter-argument is that some big clubs have fanbases who travel more widely than visiting fans.

Clubs could use loyalty points or a lottery to select ticket holders, but other factors may prove seductive. With family members not having to social distance from each other, there may be an incentive for clubs to let parents and children in first.