Hopes of Sunderland AFC fans returning to the Stadium of Light next month receive a major boost

Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, Nigel Huddleston MP, remains hopeful that crowds will return to stadiums for elite sport fixtures from October 1 – despite the cancellation of a number of test events.

A sharp rise of COVID-19 cases has seen games such as the FA Vase and FA Trophy finals, initially scheduled for September 27, postponed after they were initially set to play host to up to 10,000 spectators at Wembley.

With the government also introducing a new ‘rule of six’ – limiting the number of people who can meet at any one time – there were fears that the return of supporters may be placed on the back-burner.

But Huddleston, replying to a letter from Tracey Crouch, stated it was still it was still the intention of the government to welcome spectators back to elite sporting events from October 1.

And Sunderland, as a professional club in the EFL, would fall into that category.

In his response, Huddleston wrote: “The government wants to see spectators back at sports events as soon and as safely as possible.

“We have made important progress in staging a series of pilot and test events across different sports with more to follow.

“The pilot programme will continue throughout September, restricted to a maximum capacity of 1,000 people.

“The success of these events will be reviewed ahead of the current date of October 1 for reopening for socially distanced spectators under covid-secure conditions more widely if public health conditions permit.”

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