Football fans will need to be double-jabbed to attend Premier League games, according to government plans

Government sources briefing national papers have said that ministers are expected to sign off on plans that would require vaccination proof at events featuring more than 20,000 spectators.

This would include the vast majority of Premier League games, a well as the autumn rugby internationals, and major concerts.

And the proposal has already proved controversial, with hundreds of Portsmouth residents taking to social media to debate the policy’s effect on the pandemic – and civil liberties.

Some have framed it as ‘an infringement of basic human rights’, while others believe it would be a ‘sensible idea’ that would help the country get a grip on rising case numbers.

A walk-in vaccination centre at Fratton Park has seen a large number of Pompey fans get jabbed on Sunday, with many football fans speaking in favour of the proposal.

Pompey fan Will Mackay, who received his second vaccine dose at Fratton Park, said: ‘I think it’s a good idea. Lots of people got into the England game (at the final of Euro 2021) who were not vaccinated – I think they used fake lateral flow test results they bought on the internet.

‘You could see it as coercing people into getting the jab – I expect it to be controversial.’

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The government needs to consider all large events where thousands of people gather, according to Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said: ‘Government needs to think about the big events where people get together. The idea that you need to be fully vaccinated for Premier League games, but not the Championship or League One – we get crowds of thousands week in, week out. And that’s still a lot of people.

‘It seems to me the government hasn’t got a grip of this at all.’

Nightclubs and venues with large crowds will require attendees to have vaccine passports showing attendees have been double jabbed from the end of September – with the owner of The Astoria nightclub calling it ‘age discrimination’.

Speaking to The Sun about the plans for October, a senior Government source said: ‘It’s really important that fans are able to continue watching sport over the autumn but we want to ensure that everyone is safe.

‘That is why we’re looking at the role vaccines might play in this. It will not only allow full-capacity stadiums but has the added advantage of encouraging people of all ages to go and get their jabs.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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