It has already surpassed 20,000 signatures
Dorking Wanderers have started a petition to allow football fans back into stadiums, as the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to hit clubs at the bottom of the pyramid the hardest.
Right, this is the petition to get behind, we need EVERYONE signing & sharing across the football community – 10k gets a government response, 100k a parliament debate – @talkSPORTDrive @CAFCofficial @Only1Argyle @shrewsweb https://t.co/Vds3307FZO
— Dorking Wanderers FC (@DorkingWDRS) October 5, 2020
“Football is a powerful tool of which allows a range of benefits such as employment, and other important aspects of life,” the club’s petition says.
“Football can be associated with passion, emotion, excitement and dedication across the community. With Fans attending football games a range of economic benefits are there too.
“Due to the current issues around COVID places such as France and Germany now allow a percentage of fans to return to football games. I ask for the support of this petition as I fear that smaller clubs in particular will go out of business leading to a devastating effect on people.
“This petition is to ask the government to reconsider their judgement on not letting football fans back into the stadiums and reconsider doing this with the right safety measures in place surrounding the COVID-19.”
The petition has surpassed the necessary target of 10,000 to get a government response and is well on its way to reaching 100,000 signatures, which would lead to a debate in the House of Commons.
The government had initially planned to use trial events to bring fans back into stadiums this month, but a spike in cases of Covid-19 around the country saw those events put on hold.
In recent days, a number of figures in football, including Northampton Town, called out the hypocrisy surrounding prime minister Boris Johnson advising people to go to their local cinemas at a time when fans are still not permitted to attend games at open air stadiums.
🤔 Supporters remain unable to attend matches in outdoor football stadiums. https://t.co/OpLHRCggsr
— Northampton Town (@ntfc) October 5, 2020
A bailout relief fund for National League clubs was rolled out to help those in the fifth tier, but many clubs below that level are facing the threat of extinction without any gate receipts.
Dorking were founded by Marc White, a disillusioned Wimbledon fan who decided to start his own team, and oversaw 11 promotions in 19 completed seasons.
To find out more about Dorking Wanderers and their real life Football Manager story, watch our interview with Marc White below.
