Welsh launch a Covid crackdown on football club for ‘breaking crowd rules’

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An English football club faces being driven out of business after Wales launched a Covid crackdown on it for breaking the nation’s crowd rules because its stadium straddles the border.

Chester football club was warned they may have breached Welsh coronavirus regulations when they hosted crowds at two matches over Christmas and new year.

The National League North club’s Deva Stadium is on the border of England and Wales, with the front gates and main office in England but the pitch in Wales. 

Official data show Covid cases in Wales and Scotland are increasing faster than in England despite the nations’ harsher restrictions.

Confirmed infections are rising more than twice as quickly in Scotland as they are in England, jumping from 6,976 to 14,006 in the former nation in the week up to January 2 — and increase of more than 100 per cent.

For comparison, cases increased 44 per cent in England to 129,014 during the same period. They increased by more than 52 per cent in Wales to 9,718. 

Wales yesterday doubled down on level two measures — which have been in place since Boxing day and include the rule of six, mandatory face masks in all indoor setting and a night club ban.

Professor Robert Dingwall, a former Government Covid adviser, said Omicron in Wales was ‘driving an increase which is not really being contained by these extra restrictions’.

But Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford yesterday launched an astonishing tirade at Boris Johnson over Covid restrictions.

He vowed to ignore clear evidence that the worst of the Omicron wave has passed in order to keep tough restrictions in place in Wales. 

Chester FC chairman Andy Morris told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘In the last couple of days, we’ve been contacted by Flintshire Council on the request of the Welsh Government, and they’re the people who now have said it’s a concern. 

‘But for the rationale of why this has come about, I’m not really sure as to why it has become an issue. 

‘It hasn’t been for the last two years whilst we wrestled through Covid, we haven’t had access to any Welsh Government support, Welsh funding or anything like that, yet all of a sudden we seem to have become a political football.’

He continued: ‘We are a fan-owned club, so the way we operate is financially sustainable. 

‘We don’t operate with debt, we can’t take on loans, we don’t have an overdraft, we don’t do anything like that. 

‘So we rely on match day incomes, it’s one of our most valuable sources of income. 

‘So what we’re finding now is if we are forced to play behind closed doors for a sustained period of time, that could mean the end of the football club. 

‘It’s a really serious situation and it’s one that can’t be taken lightly.’   

Sporting events in Wales must currently be played behind closed doors under rules to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant which came into force on Boxing Day. There are presently no such restrictions in England.  

Chester’s home matches against Fylde and Telford on December 28 and January 2 were attended by crowds of 2,075 and 2,116 respectively.

The club have announced they have been informed by authorities of the potential breaches and that they risk more by hosting further games in front of fans. 

This could mean them having to play matches behind closed doors while the current Welsh rules remain in place. Chester, who are next due to play at home when they face Brackley Town on January 15, are seeking legal advice.

A statement from the club on Friday read: ‘This morning Chester Football Club was invited to a meeting with representatives of North Wales Police, Flintshire County Council, Cheshire Police and Cheshire West & Chester Council.

‘During this meeting, the club was given a joint letter on behalf of North Wales Police and Flintshire County Council which outlines potential breaches of Welsh coronavirus regulations at our fixtures on December 28, 2021 and January 2, 2022.

‘It also states the club may commit further potential breaches if it continues to play home fixtures with crowds while the current restrictions in Wales remain in place.

‘We were informed this was based upon direction from the Welsh government that the premises of Chester Football Club are governed by the Welsh regulations. The Welsh government was not represented at the meeting. 

‘It was agreed that all parties would seek further legal advice given the complex issues and future implications of any outcome.’ 

Professor Dingwall told The Daily Telegraph: ‘What I think can be reasonably said is that all of the extra interventions put in place by the Welsh government really do not seem to have had any impact.’

He added that cases are soaring in parts of France ‘which have a lot more restrictions, but are also having big waves of Covid, especially in the major cities. 

He said: ‘Omicron is so infectious that actually nothing you do makes much difference’. 

But Mr Drakeford branded England an international ‘outlier’ in resisting tighter curbs and accused the PM of overseeing a ‘politically paralysed’ administration that had tied his hands.

He used a press conference to insist that Wales’ tough Covid restrictions on bars and mass events must stay in place due to an Omicron ‘storm’ breaking over the nation.

As the rest of the UK eases restrictions he warned of ‘a difficult month ahead’, despite admitting that the variant may not be as severe as previous waves.

But then, in a rant at Mr Johnson, he added: ‘In England, we have a Government that is politically paralysed, with a Prime Minister who is unable to secure an agreement through his Cabinet to take the actions that his advisers have been telling him ought to have been taken.

‘And even if he could get his Cabinet to address them, he can’t get his MPs to agree them.

‘The outlier here is not Wales. Wales is taking action, as is Scotland, as is Northern Ireland, and as are countries right across Europe, and right across the globe.

‘The one country that stands out as not taking action to protect its population is England.’

Indoor events of more than 30 people or outdoors events for more than 50 people are not allowed in Wales. 

The Government said it is also encouraging people to take extra steps to keep safe including limiting the number of people they meet who they do not live with, to flow before you go, and meeting people outdoors wherever possible or in well-ventilated spaces.

Anyone who tests positive must self-isolate for seven days. They should then take a lateral flow test on day six and day seven. If either test is positive they should remain in isolation until two negative lateral flow tests or after day 10, whichever is sooner.

Confirmatory PCR tests for asymptomatic Covid sufferers have been scrapped from Thursday, health minister Eluned Morgan announced this week.

Unvaccinated contacts of positive cases who are self-isolating for 10 days will now be asked to take a lateral flow test on day two and eight instead of a PCR test.

PCR tests for fully vaccinated travellers and under 18s will also end between January 7 and 9 bringing the country in line with the rest of the UK.

People will instead need to take a lateral flow test (LFD) on day two and, if positive, a follow-up PCR test to enable genomic sequencing to be carried out.

There will also be no need to self-isolate until a negative test has been received. The requirements for non-vaccinated travellers remain unchanged. 

Mr Drakeford said 994 people with Covid are being treated in Welsh hospitals — a rise of 43 per cent compared with last week and the highest number since last March — while around 40 are in critical care, the majority of whom are unvaccinated.

He said Omicron is putting significant pressure on the NHS, due to rising hospital admissions and staff absences, but denied it is ‘overwhelmed’.

The latest data from Public Health Wales shows another 38 people have died from coronavirus. However, Mr Drakeford said those are likely to have been from the Delta variant. 

Meanwhile, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) said the North East and North West of England are seeing the most ‘concerning’ rates of the Omicron variant.

Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, told Times Radio that cases are ‘slowing down’ in London but scientists need two weeks to see if this continues.

He added: ‘Most other parts of the country are about two to three weeks behind where London is in their epidemic profile.

‘Particularly concerning is the North East and the North West — if you look at hospital admissions in those two regions they are going up, also the Midlands, where I live, that’s also a little bit concerning, so it is a worry.

‘On the slightly more positive side, so it doesn’t sound all doom and gloom, what we are seeing from hospital admissions is that stays in hospital do appear to be on average shorter, which is good news, symptoms appear to be a little bit milder, so this what we are seeing consistently with the Omicron variant.’

Dr Tildesley said the Omicron variant could make Covid endemic. 

He said: ‘The thing that might happen in the future is you may see the emergence of a new variant that is less severe, and ultimately, in the long term, what happens is Covid becomes endemic and you have a less severe version. 

‘It’s very similar to the common cold that we’ve lived with for many years.

‘We’re not quite there yet but possibly Omicron is the first ray of light there that suggests that may happen in the longer term. 

‘It is, of course, much more transmissible than Delta was, which is concerning, but much less severe.

‘Hopefully, as we move more towards the spring and we see the back of Omicron, we can get more inter-relationship of living with Covid as an endemic disease and protecting the vulnerable.

‘Any variant that does emerge which is less severe, ultimately, in the longer term, is where we want to be.’