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Anger over sports crowd ban grows after Arsene Wenger speaks at 'packed' London Palladium

Arsene Wenger is promoting his new book - GETTY IMAGES
Arsene Wenger is promoting his new book - GETTY IMAGES

Anger over the ban on crowds at sporting events has intensified following the emergence of footage of Arsene Wenger being loudly serenaded at the London Palladium.

The English Football League and chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association both hit out at the Government’s coronavirus-containment policy after photos and videos from Monday night’s “An Evening with Arsene Wenger” began circulating on social media.

It came the day after Professor Jonathan Van Tam, a key government advisor, specifically highlighted the “increasingly strong evidence” of shouting and singing in the spread of Covid-19.

Footage posted on Twitter showed audience members loudly chanting “One Arsene Wenger!” as the former Arsenal manager was welcomed to the stage for an event to promote his new autobiography.

Television presenter Piers Morgan retweeted the post, as well as posting a photograph of the audience, adding: “How can the London Palladium be packed like this last night for an event with Arsene Wenger, but football fans aren’t allowed to watch matches outside even socially distanced? I’m completely bemused.”

Gary Lineker was also confused, tweeting: “Makes no sense whatsoever. You can listen to football chat in a relatively crowded indoor arena, but you can’t watch football with a limited crowd in an outdoor arena.”

Those sentiments were echoed by the EFL yesterday, with a spokesman saying: “The EFL remains deeply frustrated at the decision to suspend plans for the return of fans and, while we recognise that the UK is facing a significant public health crisis, football and football supporters should be treated fairly.

“From the league’s position, it seems illogical that socially-distanced events are taking place indoors at arts and music venues when football clubs have been prohibited from doing the same in outdoor stadiums. Football is one of the most heavily regulated areas of crowd management and we know from the successful staging of eight pilot events that clubs are able to introduce appropriate measures that will meet social distancing, rule of six and test and trace requirements.”

FSA chairman Malcolm Clarke added: “If the London Palladium is considered to be safe then, certainly, football grounds should be considered to be safe.

“What we cannot tolerate is a football ground being subject to different regimes than any other cultural or entertainment facility.”

A spokesperson for LW Theatres, which operates the Palladium, said: “The London Palladium was not ‘packed’ last night for ‘An Evening with Arsene Wenger’. We were operating at 50 per cent capacity.

“This is fully in line with, and indeed goes further than, the Government’s current Stage 4 guidance for the reopening of theatres. With the support of public health officials and Westminster Council, social distancing of 1m distance plus safety mitigations – for example mandatory face coverings – is in place between each customer bubble across The London Palladium.

“We have ensured that all bubbles are seated at least 1m apart through reconfigured seats: in the circles, we use ‘chequerboard’ seating and, in the stalls, we have respaced rows to ensure a 1m distance on all sides. Operating at or below 50 per cent capacity, this is part of a wide range of health and safety measures, including mandatory temperature checks on arrival and an enhanced cleaning regime, in place across the theatre. More information about all the measures in place across the London Palladium can be found on our website.”

Van Tam, the deputy chief medical officer and a specialist in the transmission of infectious disease, was responding to a question about the evidence for the known causes of transmitting the virus.

Van Tam, who was key to agreeing the guidelines for the Premier League’s Project Restart and who has been a point of contact for sports throughout the pandemic, particularly stressed known risk factors like closed spaces, crowds and close contact but also emphasised the volume and duration of exposure. By volume, he said that he meant “the level of noise”.

He added: “We do know and we have increasingly strong evidence about shouting and singing as pressure points on the virus in terms of making the expulsion of virus-laded particles go further and the transmission therefore to become more intense.”

The football authorities believe they have proved fans can safely return with social distancing measures and it is understood the issue of shouting and singing, and whether it would need to be addressed, has not been raised by the government in discussions about the return of fans.