Article in today's Times
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-crisis-the-lower-down-leagues-you-go-the-more-common-sense-there-is-z02cqps00FOOTBALL
Covid crisis: ‘The lower down leagues you go the more common sense there is’
Robert O’Connor finds Sutton fans proceeding with caution but still determined to get their fix of festive football
Robert O’Connor
Monday December 20 2021, 12.00am, The Times
Wilson celebrates his goal at Gander Green Lane. Sutton were the only London league club to defy Omicron and put on a game on Saturday
Wilson celebrates his goal at Gander Green Lane. Sutton were the only London league club to defy Omicron and put on a game on Saturday
DAVE SHOPLAND/SHUTTERSTOCK
Share
Save
Sutton United and Harrogate Town had never met in the Football League before Saturday. They may never do so again under such strange circumstances.
The official line at Gander Green Lane, the only professional ground in London to host a match after the spate of Covid infections that ripped through the top four divisions, was business as usual.
Before the League Two match, the stadium announcer rattled off ticket information for fixtures over Christmas and the new year: Bristol Rovers away on Boxing Day, Colchester United at home three days later, then Exeter City at Gander Green Lane on New Year’s Day.
In his programme notes, Matt Gray praised his Sutton team for a battling draw away to Bradford City last time out, looked ahead to an academy game on Tuesday and wished a happy Christmas to the club and their supporters. There was no mention of the threat Covid-19 poses to the Football League.
It’s one the league is still, officially at least, confident of sidestepping. On Saturday, Rick Parry, the EFL chairman, said the league has no plans to call an all-out stop, and that postponements will continue to be considered game by game.
ADVERTISEMENT
“If we think a circuit breaker will help we will do it but there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that it will help,” Parry said. “We’ve got to stay calm and keep making balanced decisions on the basis of the latest information.”
A visitor to Gander Green Lane might not have spotted anything amiss. The food and drink vendors did a good trade, people mingled and discussed the possibility that Sutton could spend their first Christmas in the Football League in third place, if they beat Harrogate. Yet on closer inspection, a feeling of caution underscored the mood.
“We’ve been in the bar but it’s so crowded we’ve had to come outside,” said Mike, a season ticket-holder. “It’s potentially just a breeding ground. Everyone’s very closely packed in there. But then I’m not sure what they could have done. The bar’s only as big as it is, and it has to be open.”
The unusual status of the fixture might have drawn a surge of “guest” supporters parachuting in from other clubs. Conversely, it could have emphasised to supporters the risk of turning up. Instead, the attendance of 2,720 was near enough average for the season and was even up on the past two home games. Still, there were those for whom football at this level was a new experience.
SPONSORED
Sian and Ash are Brentford season ticket-holders. They were supposed to have watched Thomas Frank’s side play away to Southampton before it became one of six Premier League games to be postponed. “We’re doing what we can, you do your lateral flows before you go,” Sian said. “Our priorities are family and football. We test before seeing family, before football, and if they’re negative, go for it. If you’re responsible, if you get your Covid pass to go to the game, then you’re doing what you can. You can’t stay at home for ever.”
Ash said: “It’s Christmas, it’s football time. This Christmas was meant to have been amazing. We had Brentford v Manchester United last Tuesday, then Southampton away today, then Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, then Brighton, Manchester City and Aston Villa.
“The United and Southampton games were cancelled so we thought, ‘What’s the closest game of football? Sutton it is then. Come on you U’s’. Is that what they’re called?”
For some, footballers have needlessly exacerbated the problem. Mike, another Sutton season ticket-holder, volunteers at a local vaccination centre. Despite finding some slim cause for optimism in the science, he has been dismayed by the low uptake of the jab by players.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s disgraceful the way some Premier League players are responding to the vaccine,” he said. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. All the postponements we’ve seen. If you go down as low as the seventh tier, Corinthian Casuals are playing Potters Bar Town today, there’s no suggestion of that being called off. Because they’ve all probably been sensible. They’re amateurs so they’re all working people. They’re likely to have shown more common sense.
“You’ve got players worth a hundred million quid. What’s the Liverpool chairman going to say if one of his players refuses the jab, ‘We’re going to sack you?’ ”
The hosts’ 1-0 win over Harrogate, earned via a 30th-minute goal from striker Donovan Wilson, delivered an early festive gift. Few would have predicted the club’s first season at this level would leave them in the automatic promotion places approaching the halfway stage. But even for the longest-serving fans, the joy was tempered by a foreboding.
“I didn’t feel any different during the match to any of the others this season but it is surprising how many weren’t masked up,” the club historian Mark said. “Whether that makes any difference in the open air I don’t know. It didn’t spoil my enjoyment of a hard-fought win. But should it have to go back behind closed doors again, financial support will be required or many clubs will fold if such a measure was in place for a sustained period.”
