| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport 16:06 - Dec 7 with 4543 views | KeithHaynes |
Swansea City has joined Wales’ leading sports clubs and venues in expressing their views regarding the potential return of fans to stadiums across the country in a letter to First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford. The Swans, along with fellow Welsh football clubs Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham and the FAW, collaborated with the Welsh Rugby Union, Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Glamorgan Cricket Club, Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey, Chepstow and Ffos Las racecourses and Bangor On Dee Races
Open letter to Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales
7th December 2020
Dear First Minister
We are writing as executives and senior representatives of rugby, cricket, horse racing and football - the elite stadium sports in Wales.
Sport is a fundamental part of life in Wales. It puts our nation on the global stage and provides communities across Wales with a sense of belonging and identity. We form part of an an industry that employs thousands of people across the country, our contribution to the Welsh economy, employment and well-being is significant, but this is now at risk.
We urge Welsh Government to reconsider its approach to the socially distanced return of fans to our sports grounds by embracing the current Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) guidance known as “SGO2” and withdraw the variant “SG02W” which has been requested by Welsh Government.
On Monday 30th November, an in-person and virtual meeting was held at Cardiff City Stadium to consider the socially distanced return of fans to our stadia. It was attended by Welsh Government and representatives from WRU, FAW, the Welsh regions, Glamorgan cricket, horse racing and Welsh professional football clubs as well as SGSA, EFL and SAG. The meeting noted the publication of the SGSA guidance known as SG02, which is generally based on a social distance of one metre plus mitigations. The SGO2 guidance was issued following extensive consultation, it has underpinned the detailed planning for the return of fans to English stadia from 2nd December, and indeed has been widely acclaimed and shared by the SGSA with countries around the world.
Taking a more cautious approach, the Welsh Government asked the SGSA to prepare a version of SG02 based on a social distance of two metres. A draft (SG02W) has been received and circulated, but not published. We as a group of national governing bodies and senior clubs urge that this draft be withdrawn and that the Welsh government also embrace the highly regarded SG02 version and subsequently allow test events to be run using this guidance with events taking place as soon as possible.
We say this because while SG02 reduces expected attendances to between 25% and 35% of capacity depending on concourse densities and stadium layouts. The Welsh version would further reduce capacity to under 10% a level which in effect closes our businesses to the public indefinitely.
At the meeting, all sporting organisations were extremely disappointed by the lack of prior consultation and the entrenched position adopted by Welsh Government officials during the meeting left us full of concern. The situation is grave; the lack of a clear roadmap for the return of spectators in Wales poses the real risk of bankruptcy for our sports.
We manage highly regulated stadia, which are overseen by the SGSA who issue our licenses and Safety certificates in conjunction with our respective Safety Advisory Groups (which includes local authority, building control and the emergency services). We respect the need to return when it is safe to do so and acknowledge the need to follow science, yet highlight the reluctance of Welsh Government to look at a “managed and engineered solution” not present in the retail, construction, transport or hospitality sectors. SG02W will be a significant roadblock that does not offer us a pragmatic or sustainable solution and believe in order to move forward it is essential to have a transparent and collaborative approach with Welsh Government combined with Public Health
Wales. This will ensure as a collective, we are able to produce a clear roadmap for meaningful pilot test events and the safe return of fans to sporting grounds and events.
You will also be very conscious that Welsh sports fans are watching what is happening over the border. The clamour for the return of fans to supporting their clubs and national teams can only now continue to increase as the governing bodies and sports clubs suffer without direction or a viable road map in a time when their finances are crumbling before them.
For a nation that is small in size, Wales punches well above its weight in sporting terms; we want to work with Welsh Government to ensure the survival of our people, clubs, businesses and the future of sport in Wales.
So, as we stated at the beginning of this letter, we call on Welsh Government to withdraw SG02W and embrace the published SGSA guidance SG02, commit to transparency on the science and a collaborative approach between the sporting bodies, senior clubs, Public Health Wales and Welsh Government in order to provide a clear roadmap for meaningful pilot test events and the safe return of fans to sports grounds.
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:43 - Dec 7 with 3452 views | Highjack |
Can Mark Drakeford read? |  |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 20:02 - Dec 7 with 3378 views | Andy1300 |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:43 - Dec 7 by Highjack |
Can Mark Drakeford read? |
Possibly if the letters are not joined up |  |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 21:17 - Dec 7 with 3343 views | Badlands |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:43 - Dec 7 by Highjack |
Can Mark Drakeford read? |
Yes, several languages.
Next? |  |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 22:15 - Dec 7 with 3315 views | jasper_T |
All about money, not what's good for people. The photos of the "social distancing protocols" at Spurs the other day might have been funny had there not been a pandemic on. Big crowd of people huddled together waiting to be temp checked one at a time. |  | | |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 22:40 - Dec 7 with 3301 views | theloneranger |
Unbelievable how many fans were sitting in the stands with their masks under their chins when I watched Match of the Day and EFL highlights on Quest. |  |
| Everyday above ground ... Is a good day! 😎 |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 11:59 - Dec 8 with 3181 views | Catullus |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 22:15 - Dec 7 by jasper_T |
All about money, not what's good for people. The photos of the "social distancing protocols" at Spurs the other day might have been funny had there not been a pandemic on. Big crowd of people huddled together waiting to be temp checked one at a time. |
I've watched some games and people are far too close together. Why didn't the stewards do something. Saying that, why weren't seats marked out somehow, some rows closed off so people couldn't congregate?
In stadia holding 20000 plus there is plenty of room for 2000 people to be safe so why do people have to be so dumb?
If the Senedd changes it's mind (and I wouldn't bet on it) then the stadia management has to be better. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 12:02 - Dec 8 with 3180 views | jasper_T |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 11:59 - Dec 8 by Catullus |
I've watched some games and people are far too close together. Why didn't the stewards do something. Saying that, why weren't seats marked out somehow, some rows closed off so people couldn't congregate?
In stadia holding 20000 plus there is plenty of room for 2000 people to be safe so why do people have to be so dumb?
If the Senedd changes it's mind (and I wouldn't bet on it) then the stadia management has to be better. |
Part of it is that they only seem to open one or two stands, they're not spreading 2000 people across a whole stadium so people end up with sitting 3 seats apart with some random breathing down their neck. | | | |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 12:29 - Dec 8 with 3167 views | Whiterockin |
Politics aside the Welsh rate is abysmal, we have a new lockdown on the way, no way will we be allowed into grounds this season. |  | | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:15 - Dec 8 with 3092 views | Boundy |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 21:17 - Dec 7 by Badlands |
Yes, several languages.
Next? |
Is English one them ? | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 19:13 - Dec 8 with 3054 views | jackrabbit |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:15 - Dec 8 by Boundy |
Is English one them ? |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 19:45 - Dec 8 with 3036 views | exhmrc1 |
This really isnt the time to have sports fans back. I could have understood more had this been done in the summer when cases were low but now they have rocketed it is a non brainer. If they were in England they wouldnt be able to have fans as Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport would all be in Tier 3.
Are these idiots really fit to be running sports clubs calling for grounds to have fans allowed back in at the time of a national crisis . | | | |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 21:58 - Dec 8 with 2993 views | felixstowe_jack |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 12:02 - Dec 8 by jasper_T |
Part of it is that they only seem to open one or two stands, they're not spreading 2000 people across a whole stadium so people end up with sitting 3 seats apart with some random breathing down their neck. |
You dont need to open all the stands in a 8000 seater stand 2000 is still only 25% capacity. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 22:09 - Dec 8 with 2985 views | Luther27 |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 12:02 - Dec 8 by jasper_T |
Part of it is that they only seem to open one or two stands, they're not spreading 2000 people across a whole stadium so people end up with sitting 3 seats apart with some random breathing down their neck. |
Like the Reading game. That was unbelievable. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 08:47 - Dec 9 with 2910 views | felixstowe_jack |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 19:45 - Dec 8 by exhmrc1 |
This really isnt the time to have sports fans back. I could have understood more had this been done in the summer when cases were low but now they have rocketed it is a non brainer. If they were in England they wouldnt be able to have fans as Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport would all be in Tier 3.
Are these idiots really fit to be running sports clubs calling for grounds to have fans allowed back in at the time of a national crisis . |
Are the idiots at the Welsh Assembly fit to run Wales with deaths and new cases spiralling out of control. When will dithering Drakeford realise Wales needs a proper tier system now. It has worked in Scotland and England in bringing cases down. Even Nicola realised Scotland needed to follow England even if she had to slightly adjust it.
I am sure Drakeford and Gething can find a welsh word for tier so they can pretend they are thinking for themselves. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 10:13 - Dec 9 with 2889 views | jacabertawe |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 08:47 - Dec 9 by felixstowe_jack |
Are the idiots at the Welsh Assembly fit to run Wales with deaths and new cases spiralling out of control. When will dithering Drakeford realise Wales needs a proper tier system now. It has worked in Scotland and England in bringing cases down. Even Nicola realised Scotland needed to follow England even if she had to slightly adjust it.
I am sure Drakeford and Gething can find a welsh word for tier so they can pretend they are thinking for themselves. |
1. Hasn't been "Welsh Assembly" since May this year: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52544137. Do keep up.
2. Do not blame the whole institution, it is the Labour Government in the Senedd that makes policy.
3. The SNP government in Scotland did not "follow England", it made/adjusted its own policies as and when they needed. |  |
| Britishness...is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish. - Gwynfor Evans
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 13:36 - Dec 9 with 2858 views | MoscowJack |
This would make absolute sense if Wales wasn't struggling with covid.
I was told yesterday, by someone who provides healthcare workers to the NHS, that Swansea is a 'catastrophe' at the moment. There are now almost no beds left.
I'm all for getting fans back in stadiums where the levels are very low, but not where there are huge issues....... | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 14:08 - Dec 9 with 2842 views | trampie |
Welsh grounds should not be open to supporters at this time, it's too dangerous, we need to hope the vaccine works and then let it kick in before looking at letting fans back in. |  |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 14:30 - Dec 9 with 2834 views | Lohengrin |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:43 - Dec 7 by Highjack |
Can Mark Drakeford read? |
Certainly, in several languages. He writes excellently too, I’ve got a book by him that I picked up in the ‘90s that I still dip into regularly.
He does have one blind spot, he doesn’t appear to recognise the verb ‘tailoring’ in any language...
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| An idea isn't responsible for those who believe in it. |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 15:14 - Dec 9 with 2818 views | trampie |
Did Drakeford politically influence Leanne Wood or did Leanne Wood influence Drakeford or was there no influencing ?, it was good of Drakeford to give Leanne extra time to do her assignment back in the day to allow her to fight an election. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:24 - Dec 9 with 2791 views | felixstowe_jack |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 10:13 - Dec 9 by jacabertawe |
1. Hasn't been "Welsh Assembly" since May this year: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52544137. Do keep up.
2. Do not blame the whole institution, it is the Labour Government in the Senedd that makes policy.
3. The SNP government in Scotland did not "follow England", it made/adjusted its own policies as and when they needed. |
They can call it what they like it was the Welsh Assembly the public voted for not a senedd . Do keep up.
Drakeford has lost control of the outbreak with his stubborn refusal to follow anything England does. Even Nicloa adopted the system used in England with a minor tweak to the tier system.
After the all too short firebreak Drakeford did not have any plans, letting there be a free for all in Wales with unlimited travel within Wales. There were still too many high infection rate areas in Wales after the firebreak which should have had restrictions.
Meanwhile in Scotland and England infection rates are around half of those in Wales. | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 17:31 - Dec 9 with 2770 views | jacabertawe |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 16:24 - Dec 9 by felixstowe_jack |
They can call it what they like it was the Welsh Assembly the public voted for not a senedd . Do keep up.
Drakeford has lost control of the outbreak with his stubborn refusal to follow anything England does. Even Nicloa adopted the system used in England with a minor tweak to the tier system.
After the all too short firebreak Drakeford did not have any plans, letting there be a free for all in Wales with unlimited travel within Wales. There were still too many high infection rate areas in Wales after the firebreak which should have had restrictions.
Meanwhile in Scotland and England infection rates are around half of those in Wales. |
Oh dear, not got your sensible hat on today?
The NAME HAS CHANGED, the rest of us have "kept up"! | |
| Britishness...is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish. - Gwynfor Evans
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 18:50 - Dec 9 with 2750 views | Boundy |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 14:30 - Dec 9 by Lohengrin |
Certainly, in several languages. He writes excellently too, I’ve got a book by him that I picked up in the ‘90s that I still dip into regularly.
He does have one blind spot, he doesn’t appear to recognise the verb ‘tailoring’ in any language...
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Blimey , I thought my legs were short | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 18:51 - Dec 9 with 2749 views | Boundy |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 17:31 - Dec 9 by jacabertawe |
Oh dear, not got your sensible hat on today?
The NAME HAS CHANGED, the rest of us have "kept up"! |
Never mind anything else, the most important thing to remember is that its all about the name | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 19:18 - Dec 9 with 2738 views | felixstowe_jack |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 17:31 - Dec 9 by jacabertawe |
Oh dear, not got your sensible hat on today?
The NAME HAS CHANGED, the rest of us have "kept up"! |
Well if you are pleased with the performance of Drakeford and his Assembly in losing control you really are in need of help | |
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| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 19:38 - Dec 9 with 2727 views | Andy1300 |
| An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Welsh Sport on 18:51 - Dec 9 by Boundy |
Never mind anything else, the most important thing to remember is that its all about the name |
It will always be the assembly to most people.
It’s a farcical attempt at government at best. | |
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