Case Studies

Scots warned ahead of Euros match in London

by Mark Rowe

The authorities are calling on football fans to only travel to London for Scotland’s UEFA Euro 2020 match against England if they have a ticket for the game or if they have arranged a safe place to watch it from.

England are due to play Scotland at Wembley at 8pm on Friday, June 18. As socially distanced fans are allowed into the stadium, some 21,500 tickets have been allocated for the match – which includes about 2,600 allocated to Scotland fans.

However as featured in the June edition of Professional Security magazine, football fans in general and Scottish fans in particular have a history of ignoring social distancing and official pleas – as Rangers and Celtic fans in Glasgow have separately congregated – to hail and lambast their teams respectively last season. Various English club fans have gathered regardless of lockdowns, to celebrate promotions and other successes; and in early May to condemn the abortive proposed European club Super League. In 2008 thousands of Rangers fans ran amok in a ‘fan zone’ in particular and Manchester city centre in general before, during and after their side played a European cup final.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am so excited for UEFA Euro 2020 and one of the games that I am looking forward to the most is England’s match with Scotland at Wembley. I have some amazing memories of England v Scotland games in the past and I love the atmosphere that Scottish fans always bring to major football tournaments.

“I want to be completely clear that Scottish fans will not be able to access their traditional Trafalgar Square base as it will be used as a socially-distanced Fan Zone for key workers who are helping our city through the pandemic. Due to COVID regulations there are no alternative sites for fans to gather in large numbers in central London.

“We have all been through so much over the last 15 months and while I know everyone wants to have a great time during the EUROs, it is vital that we make sure the competition is safe and takes place in an environment that we can all enjoy. If everything goes to plan, Covid restrictions will be lifted on June 21. Should that happen, I want to welcome people from all over the UK to the capital with open arms so they can experience our great city, theatres, bars, restaurants and great nightlife.”

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive added that now that the window for Scotland Supporters Club members to purchase EURO 2020 tickets has closed.

London is hosting eight matches in the competition, including the semi-finals and the final. All England games, both semi-finals and the final will be screened at Trafalgar Square, where the ‘Fan Zone’ capacity for England versus Scotland, and England’s first match against Croatia has been set at 750 people.

Meanwhile a ‘Fan Zone’ at Glasgow Green will open for the 31 days of the tournament from Friday, June 11 to July 11, that will accommodate up to 6,000 people per day, split between two sessions. Visit euro2020.scottishfa.co.uk/fanzone.

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