Away games 2021/2022 - Will you be going?

As some of you may know I rarely get to home games, living in Manchester, but have, over the past 10 years, with my son, traveled to most away games.

I have a quandary this season, do I go or not, certainly in the early season?

I am 69, doubled jabbed, but have been identified by the government, as one who needed to shield for most of the year. I am very wary of being in a crowd at the moment.

I would be particularly interested to hear from those who are, like me, deemed to be vulnerable.

What are you going to do?

Thanks

Graham (AC)
 
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Definitely Forest.

Trains are an absolute pig though - even from here. God knows what it will be like from Bmth. Just get to London early!
 
Still not sure. On a very rare bus journey this week all forward facing seats are now available to sit on and passengers were asked not to close the windows which were open for ventilation. I therefore assume the AFCB coaches will use every seat and if I did travel I for one would wear a mask however air flow is via air conditioning.
 
As some of you may know I rarely get to home games, living in Manchester, but have, over the past 10 years, with my son, traveled to most away games.

I have a quandary this season, do I go or not, certainly in the early season?

I am 69, doubled jabbed, but have been identified by the government, as one who needed to shield for most of the year. I am very wary of being in a crowd at the moment.

I would be particularly interested to hear from those who are, like me, deemed to be vulnerable.

What are you going to do?

Thanks

Graham (AC)
A dilemma that lots of people will face unfortunately. If it were me, I would look into using quality medical masks that protect you rather than other people only. Hope you get to see plenty of games this coming season.UTCIAD.
 
I'm in Leeds, younger than Audenshaw Cherry, but actually died of COVID before being resuscitated. Over a month in the hospital, eight months out still only have 2/3 of my lung capacity back.

The transport worries me more than the games themselves. AFCB supporters who attend away matches are largely an intelligent bunch, a bit older than average, more likely to be vaccinated than the average group of people. Outdoor transmission is far less outdoors than that indoors.

Being in Manchester, I'm assuming you'd be taking the train. Me too. With the new regulations on Monday I'm not willing to travel by train. So I'll be looking for friends with cars or, if I can get some cheap weekend rates, renting a car. The other option would be empty late night trains the night before a match, returning early Sunday morning.

I do have some great looking AFCB face masks, to wear over a medical one, at games. I'm sure my fellow AFCB supporters won't be upset if I continue to mask up - wouldn't be sure about Leeds United supporters, for example. For me, it's a question of the safety of transport. Good luck to everyone as they try to make the right decision for themselves and their families.
 
I'm in Leeds, younger than Audenshaw Cherry, but actually died of COVID before being resuscitated. Over a month in the hospital, eight months out still only have 2/3 of my lung capacity back.

The transport worries me more than the games themselves. AFCB supporters who attend away matches are largely an intelligent bunch, a bit older than average, more likely to be vaccinated than the average group of people. Outdoor transmission is far less outdoors than that indoors.

Being in Manchester, I'm assuming you'd be taking the train. Me too. With the new regulations on Monday I'm not willing to travel by train. So I'll be looking for friends with cars or, if I can get some cheap weekend rates, renting a car. The other option would be empty late night trains the night before a match, returning early Sunday morning.

I do have some great looking AFCB face masks, to wear over a medical one, at games. I'm sure my fellow AFCB supporters won't be upset if I continue to mask up - wouldn't be sure about Leeds United supporters, for example. For me, it's a question of the safety of transport. Good luck to everyone as they try to make the right decision for themselves and their families.
So sorry to hear that, and hope you are on the road to full recovery.
 
I will take the chance to get to as many as I am able..even though I am getting on a bit although not classed as vulnerable as I only have a low risk heart condition…maybe we should form some kind of travel group as I always drive often on my own!
 
I've been having this discussion for a few weeks. My son has learning difficulties and I go to football as his carer. Home games we'll be there if we're allowed and we have enough away points to get tickets.

Despite two jabs, statistics suggest he's 8(eight) times more likely to die than others from covid. That could be due to instant DNR in hospital or numerous other reasons, but still a frightening statistic for me.

He's never been to Forest, Blackpool, Hull or Peterborough (4 of the first 5 aways!) among the 30 plus different grounds he has seen us play at. We both accept the day out on the train is not currently going to happen like it used to.

I'm torn between continuing to keep him safe and Alex having that life he enjoys as long as he can.

Definitely doing End Of The Road festival if possible as we'll be outside, but still undecided about away trips, particularly after reading how many will not wear masks again after this week.

Hopefully we won't sell out at Forest too quickly in case we decide to go camping up north for that weekend...

:utc:
 
Risk depends on size of ground and attendance criteria.

if you need a digital passport then it should be a very safe environment although very sad for those without two jabs.

My wife got covid in March 2020 and is still off work. We have to be careful but we feel more comfortable about watching football in open air (face masks on concourse) than an indoor theatre/cinema or crowded pub.

Our big concern would be making face masks mandatory at all times. She would be incapable of breathing if that was the case so couldn’t attend another game until this changes or her lungs get stronger.
 
As some of you may know I rarely get to home games, living in Manchester, but have, over the past 10 years, with my son, traveled to most away games.

I have a quandary this season, do I go or not, certainly in the early season?

I am 69, doubled jabbed, but have been identified by the government, as one who needed to shield for most of the year. I am very wary of being in a crowd at the moment.

I would be particularly interested to hear from those who are, like me, deemed to be vulnerable.

What are you going to do?

Thanks

Graham (AC)

I think if you're in any doubt, then maybe it's better to not go for now. Not really a right or wrong answer, though. Yes, we have to live with Covid but at the momen,t we all have to work out what we deem to be necessary risks and unnecessary ones. Only you can decide whether attending matches is necessary for you. It would be great if there were areas reserved for clinically vulnerable people with more space between supporters there. Not sure how feasible this would be, though. I'm going to matches and shall be wearing my Cherries mask but I'm not clinically vulnerable....
 
The answer sadly, is no and it's corona-related, but not for an obvious reason.

But before I get to that, let me say that anyone who chooses not to attend a match right now out of concern for the well-being of themselves or others has my full respect. Society is opening up, but coronavirus is still with us. It doesn't suddenly stop being a threat at zero hundred hours on the 19th of June 2021 or when you pass Chieveley services on the way back down the A34.

I am not going to away matches because quite simply I am not allowed. A double-vaccinated person living in England (of any nationality) can travel to a wide variety of countries on holiday. They can mix and match in whatever way local regulations allow with any number of people with alpha through delta variants and then return, take one test and continue life.

A British citizen, double vaccinated and fully certificated, entering England from an amber-list country, has to take a PRC test 3 days before departure, fill out a form concerning your movements which even the Soviet Union at it's worst didn't demand, book and pay for two rip-off tests with private providers and still quarantine.

So, to be fair, Grant "internet con-man" Shapps is not actually forbidding British citizens from overseas attending Forest and Birmingham. But Shapps, a.k.a. Michael Green and Sebastian Fox, is pricing them out. The extra cost of all the measures is probably around a thousand quid during which time, supporters can't work to cover this cost because they are in quarantine.

I have no problem with protecting borders and helping to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but this is discriminatory.
 
Thank you all for your considered responses. I really do appreciate them and perversely it’s good to know that I’m not the only one going through this thought process.

My thoughts are:

I will not use public transport for the foreseeable future.

If I remember, our away following in the Championship tends to be quite a lot lower than in the Premier League.

Championship teams often offer a larger proportion of their ground to away fans than Premier League teams.

The current surge may, hopefully, be coming down by August (although god help us when Winter comes)


Overall, my thinking was aim to be at Forest but, given as was said earlier that not all tickets are sold and, sometimes, you can buy on the day in the Championship, I will wait to see how things unfold for a little longer. (I have actually got a ticket for the T20 international at Old Trafford on Tuesday but have decided not to attend)

Thanks again for your contributions.

:utc:
 

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