Post by hendo on Jul 27, 2020 10:48:34 GMT
FA Guidelines
The FA have issued Covid guidelines as to what the players and we, the supporters, need to do if we are to attend matches in the near future.
Godalming has the largest Stage 6 home attendance of any club in our area, so I think we are perfectly qualified to give an opinion on the practicality of these directives and suggestions.
Fortunately, there’s no new AFC Wimbledon in the league to turn up with a thousand fans (and hopefully their own toilets this time), so restricting the crowd number at the Bill Kyte will not be an issue. By the way, I heard yesterday that the owners of Aldershot are wondering whether it’s even worth letting any crowd in at all, as the vastly reduced gate money would probably not cover the admin costs of having anyone there.
When we played them, Redhill accepted contactless card payment at the turnstiles, and obviously that will be the best solution if we can set up a similar system in time. Otherwise, I assume Sarah at the gate will be sporting a cast-off Virgin Galactic all-in-one and handling the cash with a pair of sanitised coal tongs.
The FA suggest that we use the FA Matchday App on our phones to pay for admission. This does require a certain amount of tech savvy to operate and knowing some of our loyal fans, rather than getting them into the ground they are quite likely to have a set of table mats arrive from Amazon.
When it comes to catering, an endless succession of tasty snacks and beverages could be loaded at the Oven Door before travelling along a continuous conveyor belt around the pitch, as favoured by Sushi restaurants. Pick a colour coded plate as it passes in front of you and don’t forget to pay the lady in the spacesuit on the way out.
If a conveyor belt proves impractical, then just bung the plates and glasses on the back of the mower and ask Pete to drive slowly.
Pretty much all of the FA suggestions are sensible and understandable, although a couple feel as though they were chucked on the end so the guidelines would fill a complete sheet of A4. Apparently, we have to wipe down and sanitise the goal posts and corner flags at half time. We also have to thoroughly wash our ‘personal equipment’ after the game. I’m not quite sure why my ‘personal equipment’ should have been exposed to any potential problem but, just in case, I’ll have a car sponge and a bucket of warm Domestos on standby in the bathroom at home.
When the ball goes out of play, we’re not allowed to handle it …which is a rule that does make sense. Then, if we really have to retrieve the ball, we can only use our feet to do so. Personally I’m not touching it; I don’t trust my ability to chip it over the pitch side barrier without pulling a hammy.
Players are discouraged from huddling or shouting or spitting or doing anything that might produce a shower of saliva. Assuming the shouting restriction applies to spectators too, I suggest the use of a crowd noise app on your phone which has various choices available to suit the occasion at the touch of a button. I particularly recommend the old favourite... ‘How many more times!’.
But whatever we have to do, and I think I speak for most of us, we will do anything to get back to safely watching our team play football again.
Stay Safe. Stay a G.
The FA have issued Covid guidelines as to what the players and we, the supporters, need to do if we are to attend matches in the near future.
Godalming has the largest Stage 6 home attendance of any club in our area, so I think we are perfectly qualified to give an opinion on the practicality of these directives and suggestions.
Fortunately, there’s no new AFC Wimbledon in the league to turn up with a thousand fans (and hopefully their own toilets this time), so restricting the crowd number at the Bill Kyte will not be an issue. By the way, I heard yesterday that the owners of Aldershot are wondering whether it’s even worth letting any crowd in at all, as the vastly reduced gate money would probably not cover the admin costs of having anyone there.
When we played them, Redhill accepted contactless card payment at the turnstiles, and obviously that will be the best solution if we can set up a similar system in time. Otherwise, I assume Sarah at the gate will be sporting a cast-off Virgin Galactic all-in-one and handling the cash with a pair of sanitised coal tongs.
The FA suggest that we use the FA Matchday App on our phones to pay for admission. This does require a certain amount of tech savvy to operate and knowing some of our loyal fans, rather than getting them into the ground they are quite likely to have a set of table mats arrive from Amazon.
When it comes to catering, an endless succession of tasty snacks and beverages could be loaded at the Oven Door before travelling along a continuous conveyor belt around the pitch, as favoured by Sushi restaurants. Pick a colour coded plate as it passes in front of you and don’t forget to pay the lady in the spacesuit on the way out.
If a conveyor belt proves impractical, then just bung the plates and glasses on the back of the mower and ask Pete to drive slowly.
Pretty much all of the FA suggestions are sensible and understandable, although a couple feel as though they were chucked on the end so the guidelines would fill a complete sheet of A4. Apparently, we have to wipe down and sanitise the goal posts and corner flags at half time. We also have to thoroughly wash our ‘personal equipment’ after the game. I’m not quite sure why my ‘personal equipment’ should have been exposed to any potential problem but, just in case, I’ll have a car sponge and a bucket of warm Domestos on standby in the bathroom at home.
When the ball goes out of play, we’re not allowed to handle it …which is a rule that does make sense. Then, if we really have to retrieve the ball, we can only use our feet to do so. Personally I’m not touching it; I don’t trust my ability to chip it over the pitch side barrier without pulling a hammy.
Players are discouraged from huddling or shouting or spitting or doing anything that might produce a shower of saliva. Assuming the shouting restriction applies to spectators too, I suggest the use of a crowd noise app on your phone which has various choices available to suit the occasion at the touch of a button. I particularly recommend the old favourite... ‘How many more times!’.
But whatever we have to do, and I think I speak for most of us, we will do anything to get back to safely watching our team play football again.
Stay Safe. Stay a G.