Sport chiefs: We must get passport to avert crisis
LEADING sports bodies have called for vaccine passports to be introduced to save their clubs from financial disaster.
Professional football, rugby, tennis and cricket chiefs have written to MPs demanding a way to get fans back into stadia in commercially viable numbers this summer.
Plans for the introduction of a so- called ‘Covid certification scheme’ have sparked a major political backlash, with more than 40 Conservative MPs pledging to vote against the ‘divisive and discriminatory’ plan.
Labour has suggested it may also vote against the ‘ poorly thought through’ proposal, raising the prospect it could be defeated in Parliament.
But sports chiefs today urge ministers to press ahead with the scheme on a temporary basis and call on opposition parties to back it.
The appeal is backed by the Premier League, the Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board, Silverstone race track and the governing bodies of both rugby league and rugby union.
They point out that although the lockdown road map could allow venues to reopen from May 17, fans will be required to observe social distancing rules.
Because of this, attendance at larger venues will be capped at just 25 per cent of capacity. ‘This will still be insufficient to end sport’s Covid financial crisis,’ they warn.
The sports chiefs acknowledge there are ‘many issues to be addressed including how the technology would work and its ease of use at major events, for both the attendees and the organisers’.
But they add: ‘All of our sports can see the benefit that a Covid certification process offers in getting more fans safely back to their sport as quickly as possible. We know that our stadia can only be fully filled with an assurance process.’
Sources at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport last night said the show of unity from some of Britain’s largest sporting bodies underlined the need to press ahead with work on a vaccine passport scheme, despite the political backlash.
Ministers also believe some form of certification scheme may be needed to get audiences back into theatres in commercially viable numbers.
Pubs and restaurants might also be allowed to operate schemes this summer in return for being permitted to relax social distancing rules, although many in the industry are hostile to the idea.
Pilot schemes to get crowds back to live events will begin next week. Ministers hope vaccine passports could be in place in time for the FA Cup Final next month.