COVID Passports: Carlisle and Lincoln Reduce Capacity to Dodge Passports.

Carlisle and Lincoln City have both decided to limit the maximum capacity of their stadiums in order to get around new Covid Passport guidelines that were implemented by the government on Tuesday.

The new restriction requires that all matches that all matches with attendances of over 10000 require COVID Passports. In order to get around this, League One Lincoln have reduce their capacity to under 10000, whilst League Two Carlisle have reduced their maximum capacities to 9999 fans. It should be noted that neither club has had attendances of over 10000 this season and will still require fans to wear facemasks in crowded areas as per government guidelines.

Lincoln have said that their reason for doing was down to available resources on match day, adding that they had conversed with both the authorities and the Football League before choosing to do this. Specifically, Lincoln’s Chief Executive Liam Scully Sated: "From our perspective, adding the number of staff necessary to undertake checks and provide the necessary services is a logistical challenge which would add a significant cost to our matchday operations. Our number one priority is looking after each other - and we urge our fans to follow the regulations and play their part in helping mitigate the spread of the virus." Meanwhile, Carlisle have updated their fans code of conduct, which sets out what Spectators need to do in order to go to matches.

Having to check COVID Passports could take resources that clubs may be struggling to get, thought this is mitigated by the fact that only 10 of the 24 League One clubs have average attendances of over 10000, whilst in League Two only Bradford City have achieved this feet.