A privileged view of matches without fans

“Football is nothing without the fans,” the statement that has been repeated ad infinitum since the United Kingdom went into its first lockdown.

For many, there is normalcy in attending football matches, the type of normalcy that people around the world have been crying out for this year. As we’ve all been driven into our homes, with our time spent outside limited, 90 minutes at a ground, getting lost in the foibles of 22 people kicking a ball around a patch of grass is the type of desperate distraction we’ve all needed.

The frustration is that we’ve been allowed to congregate indoors, in areas that will help the economy, social distancing a cute term that has often meant very little. There has been the repeated question of why fans haven’t been allowed at matches, in limited numbers, masked up and letting any nefarious germs disperse and nullify themselves in the atmosphere.

The matches, without fans, are – as we’ve been told – lesser. But for those who’ve frequented women’s football matches, we’re well used to sparsely filled stands and punctuated lulls in volume. Yes, the FA Cup final at Wembley has seen handsome attendances and under normal circumstances – remember those? – the handful of press allowed at the stadium wouldn’t be able to hear such clear shouts coming from the pitch below.

Yet, when the ball began to glide across the velvety pitch, the absurdity of the showpiece match, taking place at a ground that can hold 90,000 spectators but that had nothing but empty red seats, dissolved away.

Football and fans exist in a symbiotic state and the presence of a crowd can have an impact on those on the pitch but having warm bodies in the stands on hand to show their elation or displeasure isn’t paramount to the actual football.

Tucked up on the back row of the spacious Wembley press box, listening to the BBC Radio Merseyside commentator repeatedly mispronounce Hayley Raso’s last name, the miserable realities of 2020 melted away. The starkly empty stands became little more than a frame for the action, the eyes drawn to the plush lawn and those on it, trying to get their hands on some flashy silverware.

Yes, football needs fans and fans need football, but matches can take place with empty stands. From the non-professional rungs of the pyramid to the cup finals that players dream about. For those who come from the men’s side, it’s undoubtedly a stranger experience but even at Wembley, at a final that had seen attendances in excess of 45,000 and 43,000 in the last two years, the lack of spectators did little to hinder the actual football.

Of course, it’s farcical that [outside of lockdown] football fans can pack themselves into pubs to watch matches taking place down the road. It makes no sense that you can have so many in an enclosed space but that you can’t have distanced, masked bodies outside. As I’ve said before, there is a wider picture to be seen when it comes to fans attending games, to the travelling and stewards, and the potential flashpoints for the spreading of COVID-19.

As we’ve been forced back indoors, back under lockdown, we’re more desperate than ever for escape and normalcy, but trust me when I say, football (as long as it has an adequate revenue stream), can exist without fans in the stands.