Ahead of the recent home match against MK Dons, Portsmouth Football Club were obliged to introduce Covid certification checks under the government’s ‘Plan B’ legislation.
Chief executive Andrew Cullen has issued the following message to all fans who were at Fratton Park for the match.
I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank every supporter who attended the fixture with MK Dons.
Under the government ‘Plan B’ measures, Portsmouth FC were obliged to conduct a Covid passport check on every supporter attending the fixture.
We managed to avoid the spectre of long queues, with everyone – among an attendance of just under 15,000 – admitted to Fratton Park in good time for the 3pm kick-off.
Our supporters played a huge part. Many arrived earlier than usual and heeded the guidance given in advance to either download their Covid passport to the wallet on their phones, prior to arrival, or by bringing a paper copy.
This all contributed to a relatively smooth checking-in process and we are massively grateful for everyone’s cooperation.
We were also able to direct 62 supporters to the lateral flow testing unit we had organised at Tesco, with all but one supporter (who recorded a positive test) able to attend the game.
I would also like to thank all the volunteers from The Hive in Portsmouth who brilliantly complemented our own stewards in conducting the checks. I was able to personally observe the friendly and engaging manner in which they went about everything and they were fantastic.
I am grateful as well to our colleagues on the Safety Advisory Group, as well as our own operations and communications teams, and our stewards for the planning, organisation, advance communication and execution of the whole operation.
They all did a great job in achieving our objective to successfully perform such a large number of checks without long queues in challenging circumstances. They should all be very proud of their work.
The government recently announced that ‘Plan B’ regulations are to be repealed from Thursday. It means that Covid certification are no longer required for our next home fixture with Charlton Athletic on Monday, January 31 (7.45pm kick-off).
However, we would still ask all supporters to take care if attending this fixture by observing social distancing etiquette, wherever possible, throughout the stadium and adhering to the Code of Conduct.
Thank you
PUP!
Andrew Cullen