In the week that the FA and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) removed the ban on supporters attending matches at grounds of clubs at step 3 and below, attention has turned to how clubs will manage the situation.
The return of supporters to grounds – which does not include matches played in which Vanarama National League clubs are the home team – has been split in to two stages and capped at 15% for stage one.
A breakdown of the different non league steps is here, but for the period of August 22nd to August 30th (stage 1) restrictions are as follows:
- Step 3: 300 supporters
- Step 4: 200 supporters
- Step 5: 150 supporters
- Step 6: 150 supporters
These figures are based on the minimum capacity of ground gradings required to play at each level.
Stage 2 which is week commencing 31st August onwards see’s the minimum increased to 30%. So:
- Step 3: 600 supporters
- Step 4: 400 supporters
- Step 5: 300 supporters
- Step 6: 300 supporters
Of course, looking at those figures for step 5 and 6 clubs, the problem of having to regulate the numbers of fans in the ground would be a nice one to have, but there, of course, will be outliers, the pre season friendly that brings National League Aldershot Town to Ascot United (ko 1pm) on Saturday being one.
The average attendance for a Shots home game according to FootballWebPages.co.uk last season was 1,786. Of course, it’s unlikely that many would arrive at Ascot but given the lack of matches fans have been able to watch live and the geography of the two sides, it’s fair to imagine there might be a few more than the 150 supporters hoping to get in.
The Yellamen have therefore set the match as ‘all-ticket’ – fans must have snapped up and present a free ticket at the gate and 125 will be available on Eventbrite here for 11am on Friday morning.
How is your club handling the attendance of supporters at the weekend if at all? Let us know in the comments below or drop us a note on our Twitter thread here.
