Norwich City Football Club announces new plan for Covid fans
Posted:
17:57 December 21, 2021
The Norwich City Football Club have announced new guidelines for fans to follow when watching football on Carrow Road.
Along with the 19 other Premier League clubs, the Canaries presented the guidance after the government announced it had switched to Plan B as cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 continue to rise.
Greg Pillinger, the club’s operations and projects chief and covid officer, said he tried to avoid the prospect of controlling all fans on a match day.
“With 27,000 fans coming to the stadium, we would have needed supporters four or five hours before kick-off and would have needed hundreds of commissioners,” he said.
The club have discussed with other Premier League sides how to avoid such measures.
“We have come to an agreement with the government that the receiving club will ask all season ticket holders, members and occasional supporters who have purchased a ticket in the past two or three years to pre-register their vaccination information in their home club’s database, ”added Pillinger.
“If you can’t pre-register you have to show up with your Lateral Flow Test (LFT) on a match day where you can present the NHS email or text and show it to staff on the gates .
“Finally, and I hope we don’t get to this point, we deny the right to refuse entry to any fans who cannot prove their vaccination status.”
Greg Pillinger, operations and projects manager and dedicated covid manager for Norwich City Football Club.
– Credit: Archant
Mr Pillinger added that all Premier League clubs will adopt these practices and fans will have to follow the same procedure in away matches.
“When our fans travel to Crystal Palace (December 28) or any forthcoming away game, they will be subjected to the same scrutiny and checks as fans at home,” he added.
“They will be asked to show their NHS pass via email or text proving they have taken an LFT test within 48 hours of the game.”
In order to make the process as easy as possible, Mr Pillinger said the club are asking fans to show up a little earlier than their usual match routine.
“We know the fans have their traditions, but even arriving 10 minutes earlier than normal will go a long way to help the Covid marshals and the club get all the fans safely in. “
The new rules are expected to be in place ahead of the club’s Boxing Day game against Arsenal at Carrow Road.
