Football club on England-Wales border pleads over Covid rules

LONDON: Is it bound by English rules on Covid, or by tougher Welsh ones? A small football club in the city of Chester says its very survival hangs on the answer.

The UK’s four devolved governments set their own health policies and, in England, sports clubs have been able to continue hosting large crowds despite the spread of the Omicron variant. But, like Scotland’s, the Welsh government responded to the variant late last month by ordering fixtures to be played behind closed doors.

The Roman city of Chester sits just across from Wales in northwest England, and non-league Chester FC went ahead with crowds of more than 2,000 for two home fixtures on December 28 and January 2.

But while its front gates and main office lie in England, Chester’s pitch is in Wales -- and the club faces police warnings that any repeat at their next home game on Saturday would break Welsh law.

“The entire future of the club could be in doubt. There is no financial support for English clubs playing behind closed doors at the moment,” Chester chairman Andy Morris told the PA news agency.

“It could be the end of the club,” he said. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said he had ordered his officials to look into the controversy. “I’m sure there is a sensible, pragmatic solution here that doesn’t mean that the club is placed in jeopardy, but doesn’t result in the law being broken either,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

It is not the first time that Covid has exposed geographical fault lines in the UK’s internal make-up. Last October, most people in the small town of Knighton south of Chester were subject to a strict Welsh lockdown. But residents living around Knighton’s train station, across the River Teme in England, were free to move about.