I would be fascinated to see the analysis that was carried out before the government decided that it is better to carry on playing football matches. That it was safer for people to be in an outdoors setting rather down the pub.
How did they estimate how many fans would go to the pub if a game is played behind closed doors? Did they take into account how many football fans have Sky subscriptions? How many take their kids to games but wouldn’t take them to the pub? How many fans don’t like going to the pub? Did they consider the effect that early kick offs would have? Games played at 12.3O or 2pm rather than late afternoon/ evening kick offs? Did they also factor in that many fans also go to the pub before or after matches? That pubs near grounds have a roaring trade on match days. That bars around grounds and on concourses are packed before kick off. Did they assess the risk from travelling to matches on public transport , especially packed trams and the underground?
if they’d taken all of those factors into consideration and still concluded that it would be best for matches to go ahead, then I would have confidence in that decision. Or was it just a case of Sir Humphrey deciding “well they’ll all go to the pub”.
In the grand scheme of things deciding whether or not to continue playing football matches in front of fans might not be the most important decision facing the government and the health service. But the way that they arrived at that decision would be a good indicator of how robust is their planning process.
