Scotland’s First Minister has confirmed a u-turn and a rollback of the 500 spectator limit at large outdoor events, including Scottish Premiership football games.
This means that Rangers fans are set to travel to Pittodrie for the return of the Scottish top flight early next week, following the latest update to the rules which will come into force as of Monday next week.
As part of this, supporters will need to be fully vaccinated, including boosters and a responsibility will be put on event organisers to ensure that around 50% of spectators have been checked to ensure their ‘vax passport’ is valid and in place.
Questions will rightly be asked as to what the purpose of the early shutdown was from a football perspective and in terms of the government decisions, Sturgeon confirmed this afternoon that Covid numbers and the Omicron ‘surge’ has not been as damaging as anticipated.
🏟️Sports fans will be welcomed back to venues across Scotland from Monday when the 500 limit on crowds is removed.
It means capacity crowds will be in place as the Scottish Premiership returns from the winter break on January 17. Full details👇
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 11, 2022
This news will be a massive boost to thousands of ordinary people across Scotland, to whom football is their lifeline, focus and priority. To some this is insignificant and trivial but that doesn’t matter – the huge crowds at Scottish games and many more who follow their teams on TV will be delighted at this news.
Crucially, there has been no data or figures presented showing that outdoor events and large crowds have a detrimental impact on Covid stats and hospital admissions. Whilst the pandemic is still with us and casing problems throughout society, the vaccines are working and slowly, this is another measure to allow us to effectively live with the virus as society continues to adapt.
More to follow…