The government has warned football supporters that they will be dispersed by police if they turn up at Premier League matches being played behind closed doors – and that their clubs could play future games at neutral venues as a result.
The sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, said that while he was delighted English football was returning, starting with Aston Villa hosting Sheffield United on Wednesday evening, fans had to understand the implications of breaking the rules.
“We’re seeing a loosening of lockdown but at the moment we require everyone to abide by the rules and I don’t want a situation where fans gather and police have to disperse them,” Huddleston said. “It’s bad for football, bad for sport and bad for the progress we’ve made over the past few weeks. If people do congregate rather than follow the guidance, it will put people in danger and it will threaten football’s future.”
Huddleston said he understood the urge for fans to want to celebrate their side winning matches, but with every game on TV for the rest of the season there was no excuse not to stay at home. “We have had this long debate of whether we have neutral stadia versus home games and I think neutral games come back on the cards if we can’t manage local crowds. Fans are much more comfortable, as are the players, if it’s home games. That’s a principle I understand. But the option of neutral stadiums comes back if we can’t.
“And the sooner we can get over the coronavirus pandemic, then the sooner we can get fans back into the stadiums, which is something that we all want.”
That message was backed by Jürgen Klopp, who released a video message to Liverpool supporters on Tuesday promising them his team would still feel their presence. “I will make the boys feel your support,” he said. “We will use it. You are still the 80%-90% of the petrol in our tanks. We really will use that and we will need that but the final message is stay safe and support us from home. We are still with you and you will never walk alone.”
A recent poll found that 40% of people thought the Premier League was returning too quickly, but Huddleston insisted every precaution was in place for the players and staff at grounds. “A lot of work has gone into making sure that from the logistics and the medical testing and everything that risk is minimised to the greatest extent possible. This has been done in incredibly stringent conditions.”
Huddleston also promised that an upcoming review into the sports governance code would consider specific targets for sports to have more people of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in their boardrooms.
“Sport England and UK Sport have helped identify people who could be suitable so I think it’s really important we grow the pipeline of people for leadership positions and that’s one of the most important things we can do. When it comes to quotas or targets, that’s what we’ll be investigating. I’m not saying anything for definite, but we’re looking into it. We are woefully behind on BAME representation and we need to continue to focus on that.”