Phil SumblerIt would be very easy for people to be riled by the announcement late last night of the Welsh government to close the doors of stadia from Boxing Day but in amongst all the indignation of the decision it really surely was the only sensible thing to do given the increased spread of the virus.
You can call it a political statement and you can throw all the names you like at those who made the decision but it will only be a matter of time before the UK government follow suit and you can reasonably expect a similar announcement from Westminster before the week is out.
There are also two different scenarios at play here which – a cursory glance at social media this morning failed to pick up on – in that the decision yesterday of the EPL and EFL to carry on with matches is completely separate from the decision to not allow many many thousands of people to mix inside a stadium.
This article is not designed to be in support of the Welsh government but did anyone really believe that anything different was going to happen.ย ย We have a position where more than 90,000 positive tests are being reported daily and all governments are trying desperately to roll out a booster vaccine programme that is designed to both slow down the spread and keep us safer from infections.
To do that at the same time as keeping sporting venues open for tens of thousands of people to mix without any significant level of control would be madness in the extreme.
Of course right now there is nothing fair about this.ย Every sporting club in Wales this morning faces a disadvantage over other clubs but that will be short lived and I would just about expect the same restrictions to be placed on our English counterparts by the end of the week.
On these new restrictions, Vaughan Gething, economy minister for Wales said: “Sporting events over the Christmas period are one of the big highlights of the year. Unfortunately, the new Omicron variant is a significant development in the pandemic and could cause a large number of infections.
“We need to do everything we can to protect people’s health and control the spread of this awful virus.
“Throughout the pandemic we have followed scientific and public health advice to keep people safe. The advice is clear – we need to act now in response to the threat of Omicron. We are giving people as much notice of these decisions as we can.
“Crowds will come back as soon as possible. We want everyone to be here to enjoy their favourite sports.”
The reality would have been that crowds at games would have been vastly reduced due to isolation periods, positive tests and a good number of people who would not have felt safe in the evironment of a sports ground.ย ย Many will point to choice being taken away from them but when you are trying to control the spread of a virus keeping people as far apart as practically possible is the most sensible thing and you simply cannot do that in a sporting stadium.
The question will be how long the stadiums remain closed and when – not if – the English government follow suit.ย But taking a step back and trying to be as impartial as possible, this was the only outcome that could have been expected right now.
