Since the outbreak of Covid-19, football fans being allowed back into stadiums has been trialled across the footballing world but didn’t truly come to fruition.
In September, the UK government announced the partial reintroduction of fans back into grounds to watch their teams.
Germany also piloted a scheme that saw some stadiums reopen at a capacity of 10 to 25% and a lottery scheme was introduced to determine which lucky fans could watch the game.
Forest Green Rovers were one of the teams picked to participate in the UK’s test event where 1,000 season ticket holders were let back into The New Lawn for the first time since February.
💚 We’ve missed you lot.
— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) September 19, 2020
Looking forward to seeing you again before too long, we hope 🤞#WeAreFGR 💚 pic.twitter.com/ADlelukBhA
One man who knows how important it is for fans to get back to watching their team is local journalist Ash Loveridge.
Loveridge has reported on Forest Green for two decades and feels that, when the time is right to do so, fans should return.
He said: “100% fans should be back in, maybe not at full capacity but there’s no reason why they can’t be back in there and socially distanced.
“I think it could work at a club like Forest Green who traditionally don’t have a huge fan base and the location means things wouldn’t get clogged up.
“How would you do it at a club like Manchester United? How do you say you’re allowed to go but you’re not? It would be impossible.”
