FCDO / ATAC Meeting

The ATAC Chair and Vice-Chair attended a meeting with a two FCDO staff today about Consular Communications ahead of this year’s Euros.  Present were the Euros Liaison Officer at the Berlin Embassy who is assigned to Scotland’s Euro messaging, and the Consul to Ukraine who is assisting with the Scotland Consular communications for Euro 2024.

There are three main pillars to the Consular messaging.

1 – Signing up for FCDO travel advice and alerts

2 – Keeping belongings such as passport, phone etc safe during the tournament

3 – Respecting local laws and customs

The first covers items such as terror alerts, current advice all the way to mass casualty events.  We explained that signing up to these is usually a reactive behaviour, in that advice on these pages would be sought if/when something happens rather than in advance.

The second pillar is common sense and the TA has various members with a history of being serial passport losers.  We are aware that there will be on the ground help from UEFA/Euro 2024 in the event of ticket holders losing phones and will look to see that advice when it is available.

We have already covered some of the local laws and customs in our notes from the Frankfurt Fans Forum that we attended in January.  It is covered in the NFIP section from Day 1.  We will reiterate these messages over the coming months.

In addition to the active and loyal fanbase that ATAC represents we are aware that there will be many fans travelling that may not have been abroad to follow Scotland before.  Our communication channels may struggle to reach these people and this could possibly also be the case for any SFA/SSC and Consular messaging.  We have agreed to assist in pushing out important Consular messaging where we can.  The Consul staff will look to also engage the SFA and to put messaging in the media.  These can be done via match programmes, radio and TV programmes, alongside podcasts and similar digital routes.

We touched on routes that fans are taking and also where Scotland fans are likely to be based.  Currently there is no particular route or method that stands above any others.  The TA will be travelling over air, land and sea.  The superb public transport in Germany also means that fans can base themselves outwith the host cities and travel in and out for the matches.  The 36 hour free travel pass for ticket holders makes that particularly appealing.

Further meetings will be scheduled when required.



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Euro 2024 Fans Forum – Frankfurt – Jan 2024

At the tail end of January, ATAC Chair & Vice Chair – Martin Riddell & Graeme Baxter – attended the UEFA Euro 2024 Fans Forum in Frankfurt, as we look forward to Scotland taking on Europe at this summer’s tournament.

The event brought together tournament organisers Euro2024 Gmbh, UEFA, and the 10 Host City organising teams, with National FAs, NFIP, German Ministry, Football Supporters Europe (FSE), Coordination Centre Fan Projects (KOS) and Supporters Representatives. This forms part of the engagement strand of Germanys Euro 2024 bid to deliver an unforgettable, safe, and enjoyable experience for fans at this summers tournament.

The three day event covered a range of presentations, discussions, and Q&A sessions on a wide range of the tournament plans, including Host City / Fan activations, Fan zones, fan walks, along with wider tournament aspects of safety & security, mobility, ticketing, comms, sustainability. etc. Our opportunity to meet One on One with the individual Host City teams were particularly valuable. It also gave us the opportunity to network with other supporters groups from around Europe.

you can read more about the event here – https://www.uefa.com/news/028a-1a138942be65-eeb9904b50a5-1000–euro-2024-fan-forum-united-by-football/

We’ve condensed the mountain of information we received down into some notes in the below document to share amongst ATAC members and fellow Scotland fans.

Should you have any follow up or questions, feel free to get in touch with us.

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Scotland v Ukraine Postponement

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ATAC welcome the decision to postpone the playoff semi final v Ukraine. In the interests of fairness, it is essential that Ukrainian preparations are not affected by the unjust invasion of their country.


We await news of when this match will be rescheduled in June together with the play off final arrangements, and our thoughts remain with the people of Ukraine.  

Final Information from London Host City Team for Wembley

The London Host City team & Football Supporters Europe have asked ATAC to circulate some key guidance ahead of the match v England at Wembley this coming Friday. For all the advice, please visit the Event Guide and remember lots of the useful information is available on the Euro2020 App.

STADIUM GUIDANCE

  • Bad weather and rain are expected for Friday. Umbrellas can’t be taken inside the stadium.
  • Bag policy: no bags larger than A4 will be allowed in the stadium; there are two bag deposits at the stadium where you can leave your bags and at the cost of £10 per item.
  • Face coverings must be worn in the stadium bowl at all times.
  • Detailed information on requirements for stadium entry can be found here, including proof of a negative Lateral Flow Test or full vaccination.
  • Follow the entry time slot displayed on your mobile ticket. Concessions are available in the stadium, including alcohol.

TRAVEL GUIDANCE

The guidance on travel from the Greater London Authority & MET Police is that if you do not have a match ticket or a safe place to watch the match, then you should reconsider your travel plans. This has been reaffirmed this morning

https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/fans-without-tickets-reminded-not-to-travel

With bad weather forecast, and weather warnings in place for Friday, anyone who currently doesn’t have indoor plans or reservations for the afternoon, are encouraged to book in somewhere.

For all travelling, enjoy the match, and please stay safe!

Meeting #3 with Glasgow Host City Stakeholders – 03/06/2021

The third Hampden meeting was on Thursday 3 June.  In addition to ATAC there was various representation from the Glasgow Council Host City Mobility Team, FSE, BTP, UEFA, Czech fans groups.

Key Point!

Food & Drink Kiosks to remain closed.


Full summary of meeting below.

Attendance

Percentage breakdowns of where Hampden ticket holders live was provided.  Unsurprisingly, the largest percentage for all four matches is Scottish.  In order of the four Hampden matches the Scottish percentage for each one is currently 60%, 38%, 56% and 65%.  Respectively these are for SCO/CZE, CRO/CZE, CRO/SCO and Last 16.  There are reasonable attendances for the Croatian and Czech support despite uncertainty of if these fans can travel.  It does sound like a lot of these PNA tickets are being transferred to CZE and CRO fans resident in UK who will not have to quarantine.  There are very few fans expected to travel from CZE and CRO to attend the matches owing to the required potential 10 day quarantine period on arrival.  If restrictions are eased then there is potential for airport shuttle transfers to be laid on.

An interesting point is that most Euro2020 matches have around 5% to 7% of German nationals.  This is a regular things apparently and is mostly ground hoppers.

Any unsold tickets will go on public sale via UEFA.  How many there will be and when this will be is unknown.  I’d expect this to be announced by UEFA if it is going to happen.

Transport

One of the meeting attendees is responsible for authorising the bus parking permit requests.  He will be doing that this week.  The expectation is that once authorised, the person who made the booking will get email confirmation which will contain a pass that can be printed off and displayed on each bus. The UEFA EURO 2020 app now contains some good info about what to expect for travelling to Hampden.  Note that industrial action by RMT will take place on Sundays for a period of time so be mindful if it affects your plans.  Trains in Scotland will be “dry” until we reach Level 0.

Stadium

Currently, no covid testing is required for matches at Hampden.

Your tickets will now show your entry slot.  Expect an email from UEFA for all matches next week.  There will be follow up emails and then a further one on Match Day -2.  We should expect the UEFA Apps to also start pinging notifications as the matches approach and even as individuals approach the stadium.

There will be a UEFA fan shop within the stadium perimeter.  The UEFA app states that no food and drink is to be brought in as “there will be plenty of options to choose from once you’re inside”.  It was announced at the meeting that the kiosks would be closed and that free bottles of water would be available inside.  A suggestion was made that fans can bring in a small snack, an energy bar was given as an example.  I pointed out that this was unacceptable.  I also advised that we would find it difficult to encourage fans to arrive for the early entry slots if they were to remain inside the stadium for potentially 5+ hours without any food.  The reasons given for no food outlets was that socially distanced queuing could not be guaranteed.  FSE pointed out the fact that UEFA fans shop were being permitted and this would pose the exact same challenge.  FSE are escalating this on our behalf and we will see how this goes at the start of next week.  I would suggest you make your members aware of this now – I am genuinely angered by this decision.  I have subsequently pointed out that this is unacceptable for fans with certain medical conditions and also that no other entertainment industry would enforce such draconian sanctions be it rugby, cinema, theatre etc.

We have had a few enquiries about the possibility of taking bagpipes to the game.  The UEFA rep will follow this up. 

*Materials published on this website and in this article is the copyright of the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, and may not be quoted or reproduced without prior permission