Exclusive - Hull FC owner Adam Pearson pushing for Super League crowds to return by July

There was welcome news for sport fans yesterday when the Government published a 50-page guidance document detailing how England will begin to ease lockdown measures following the coronavirus outbreak.

Step two of that plan – which is not due to start any earlier than June 1 – includes “permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “roadmap” out of the pandemic fits in with the Premier League’s bid to resume their season by June 12 and offers plenty of hope for rugby league, too. It has been shut down since mid-March and most involved in the sport expect to have to play behind closed doors once it is allowed to restart.

Pearson, then, welcomed the news but added a caveat; he feels rugby league – even backed by a £16m Government loan – will still wither away if forced to play in front of empty stadiums for any sort of extended spell.

“There is a lot of work still to do and you hear about testing peoples temperatures on training days and match days and things like that,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“It’s good to hear about this June 1 date but I’m just not convinced how long you can run a sport behind closed doors before it no longer is sport.

“Because what is a sport without supporters? It’s a training exercise, almost. My guess is that let’s start behind closed doors and get cracking as soon as possible.

“But then let’s get some crowds back in. Maybe they just let us play in front of home fans and go from there? Leave grounds shut for two or three months, though, and it will kill the sport.”

Using the example of Hull’s home ground – the 25,500 capacity KCOM Stadium – Pearson believes it can be done safely, especially as they average crowds of around 12,000 people per game.

“(Before lockdown) Boris (Johnson) made the mistake of going to Twickenham and therefore we had to have a Cheltenham Festival which was quite clearly ludicrous,” he continued, referring to the Prime Minister attending England v Wales on March 7, strengthening the horse racing festival’s decision to controversially go ahead with more than 250,000 racegoers a few days later.

“Just because the Government did that, don’t let that affect crowds going back into grounds at a reasonable time.

“At our ground, for instance, there’s plenty of space inside and lots of fresh air.

“I’d feel a lot safer sat inside the stadium than I would catching a bus to go to the Odeon cinema if they still exist.

“We could probably do about a month behind closed doors and then we need to start letting people in, even if it’s half your capacity with seat spaces between everyone.

“At our stadium, it’s not people hemmed in and crowded together. It’s not that sort of environment.

“It’s not a packed stand at Cheltenham where everyone’s drunk and rolling around.

“So, fine let’s open behind closed doors but don’t let it go on too long.

“Let’s get a grip, get some bravery back in the country and some normality.”

The Government document states that reopening venues that attract large crowds “may only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in numbers of infections”.

However, Pearson points at the East Yorkshire city’s low number of infections as a positive in any bid to see doors opened once more.

“We held a fixture against Warrington which was one of the last to be played before the sport shut down,” he added, the 38-4 defeat on March 12 proving to be head coach Lee Radford’s last in charge.

“We had 10,000 there that night. And Hull has one of the lowest virus rates. We might be a couple of weeks behind but a lot of the people don’t leave Hull and there’s not a lot of transitioning in and out of here.

“We played in a big ground with 10,000 fans without any kind of spike so let’s not get obsessed.

“If we haven’t got crowds in sporting venues by a certain date, a lot of sport is dead in this country - and it’s our fans and our supporters that make our sport special.”

Clearly, like all clubs, Hull need spectators through the gates to bring in much needed income.

Pearson admitted: “It is based on money but it is also about sport.

“We don’t want people to lose the habit of going to see live sporting events.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor