Premier League club players and staff must be fully vaccinated by October 1 to participate in matches, writes The Athletic Friday. The decision, which has not yet been officially confirmed by the league, is part of the government’s plans to allow football to continue should a new lockdown be declared over the winter. Players’ union PFA, however, emphasizes that ‘medical and religious’ reasons for abstaining from vaccination should be taken seriously by the Premier League.
The UK government reported earlier this week that from October 1, supporters must show proof of full vaccination to attend matches; a negative corona test is no longer seen as an admission ticket. The same seems to apply to players and staff members. In the past season, players were required to undergo tests twice a week. That measure is no longer sufficient, according to the Premier League.
For competitions from October 1, proof of full vaccination is requested, unless someone is not vaccinated on medical grounds. The measure would apply to any match with at least 10,000 supporters. That comes down to every match in the Premier League and Championship and some matches in League One and League Two. There are eight weeks in England between the first and second injection. Players and staff members who have not yet received their first shot should therefore hurry to be deployable as of October 1, that date is in ten weeks.
according to The Athletic a ‘great majority’ of players in the Premier League, the lower leagues and the Women’s Super League have had at least one dose of a vaccine. Sources at ‘several clubs’ indicate that there is ‘some, albeit small’ resistance within the player groups. Clubs respect personal reasons of staff not to be vaccinated, but try to encourage as many players as possible to get vaccinated. Full vaccination means that from August 16, the Monday after the first Premier League weekend of the new season, people will no longer have to go into self-isolation after a high-risk contact. Should a player become infected, then the entire training complex does not have to be closed because other players have been in contact with the infected player.
Players’ union PFA calls mandatory vaccinations a ‘sensitive topic’ and emphasizes protecting the ‘labour rights of players’. In any case, the PFA does not think that clubs should be allowed to punish players if they do not have themselves vaccinated. The union points out ‘medical or religious reasons’ that could prevent someone from taking a vaccine and is happy to talk to clubs to find a solution to difficult situations.
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