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!

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. 

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Reps from ATAC attended a further meeting this week led by the planning team at the MET, with some of the stakeholders including FSE, FA, UEFA, Greater London Authority groups and the Czech fans group.

Key Point!
COVID TESTING MAY NOW BE REQUIRED! Announcement expected in the coming days.

Full summary of meeting below.

Transport

The advice remains that fans without tickets should not travel.  For any that do then it is highly recommended that you book somewhere to watch the match as you will not just be able to squeeze into pubs like on previous visits.  Current restrictions in London still require table service at seated tables with masks to be worn while not sat down.

There has been very little demand for coach parking.  I advised that the lack of tickets, socially distanced buses and the pandemic had resulted in very few fans travelling from Scotland via this method.  If you are driving down then the advice is to park around Amersham or Watford Junction in the North and to use public transport from there.  As previously advised, trains are pretty much fully booked.  LNER trains on the East are currently running “dry”.  Avanti trains on the West line are not.

Fanzones

A reminder that the fanzones for the first few matches at Wembley are restricted to key workers and are ticketed events in Trafalgar Square.  Gatherings in Trafalgar Square will not be possible.  There is a football village which will be set up at Potters Field near Tower Bridge.  Note that this is a family friendly venue and will not be showing the matches.  Refreshments are available here and I’d recommend it for anyone looking for something to do with their family while down there.  Capacity is 1,250 and a good way to spend an hour or so.

Stadium

It is now looking likely that some kind of covid mitigation will be required for entry to Wembley.  This will apply to all fans, staff, police, etc.  What this will look like will be decided by the Westminster government.  Speculation on the call suggested this could be certification of 1 vaccination plus a certain amount of days, 2 vaccinations plus an amount of days or a lateral flow test.  What certification will be required is currently unknown and there seemed to be some confusion as to whether or not NHS Scotland certification would be acceptable.  I do not know any more than this at the moment so please do not ask.  Those on the call are as keen as us to know what this will consist of and I know they are pressing the government every day for a decision.  Expect the guidance to be issued imminently together with any test requirements.

There will be ticket checks around the perimeter and once the covid mitigation process is determined this will be in place too.  Wembley are increasing the amount of lanes and channels to be the equivalent of 100% capacity to ensure a quick flow of fans.  This is despite the stadium only being at 25% capacity for our first match there.  There have been plenty matches played with crowds at Wembley over the past month so they have a good idea of what to expect of the day of our first match there.

If there are any ticket issues on the day then there will be an office you can go to resolve these.  Note that this will likely require sight of the ID that was used to buy the tickets.  We will find out if photocopies of passports are acceptable.  Kiosks will be serving a full range of food and drinks.  Alcohol sales are still to be confirmed but there is no reason why they won’t be.  Worst case scenario is a pint of Heineken Zero mixed with a bit of alcohol based sanitiser. 

Again, I asked about bagpipes.  The Euro2020 Spectator Co-ordinator will investigate and confirm.

If anything else comes from these communications channels then it will be passed on.  The teams around both matches have been excellent to work with and the Wembley group have taken a lot of decisions with Scotland fans specifically in mind.

*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