Chester FC is an English club, says chairman after Covid 'rule break'

Chester FC fans celebrate - but will they be stopped from watching matches at the Deva Stadium?

Chester FC bosses have insisted the football club is English after the club was accused of breaking Welsh Covid rules.

Chester, whose Bumpers Lane home straddles the England and Wales border, staged two home games over Christmas.

The club has been warned about playing further home matches with crowds.

Andy Morris, the club's chairman, said the location of the ground was no longer a joke and "had become a very real problem".

On Saturday, the Welsh government insisted Chester FC's stadium was in Wales and the club's home games were therefore subject to Welsh Covid restrictions.

Since rules capping the number of spectators at events in Wales took effect on 26 December, Chester have hosted two home fixtures at Bumpers Lane - against AFC Telford and AFC Fylde - both in front of 2,000-plus crowds.

The club had insisted it had been told it was not eligible for financial support - from the £3m available for clubs in Wales impacted by fan restrictions - as it was an English club, but the Welsh government has now said: "As a club based in Wales, Chester FC would be eligible for support."

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Prior to the Covid pandemic, Mr Morris said the significance of the stadium's unique location had been regarded as little more than the answer to a common quiz question.

"It's something we've had for 30 years now since the stadium was built," he said.

"It was never a problem before we had devolution and changes in Covid rules."

The facts are:

• Chester, a former English Football side from 1930 to 2000, then again from 2004 to 2009, play in the English league pyramid system

• They are now affiliated only to the English Football Association and are not any longer affiliated to the Welsh FA

• The pitch is in Wales but the stadium is considered English

• The land of this now fan-owned club owned by Cheshire West and Chester Council

• Games are policed by Cheshire Constabulary

What has happened so far to resolve this?

"We had a meeting on Friday morning with Cheshire police, Flintshire police and both local authorities," Morris told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"I get a feeling that nobody really knows what to do with the situation. It's a bit of a political football, with some of the wider Covid restrictions.

"The entrance to the stadium site is in England. The stadium is registered in England. It's actually owned by Cheshire West and Cheshire Council, so it's all very, very complicated at the moment."

"I'm not really sure as to why it's become an issue. It hasn't been for the last two years whilst we wrestled through Covid. We haven't had access to any Welsh government support, Welsh funding, anything like that."

Chester vice-chairman Jim Green added: "We were asked on Thursday to attend a meeting on Friday.

"We went into that meeting expecting it to be a conciliatory discussion to try and find a way forward. But we were presented with a letter on behalf of North Wales Police and Flintshire council warning us that, in their eyes, we had breached Coronavirus regulations in Wales and that, if we continued to play, that would mean further breaches.

"What we said in the meeting on Friday morning is that all parties need to take a step back, reflect and take some more legal advice."

What are the financial implications?

"We're not eligible for financial support from Sport Wales as we're not an affiliated Welsh club," said Morris. "That's been made clear, so the impact would be massive, if we're told for a period of time we're not allowed spectators in. We don't have the revenues from central funding.

"Chester are a fan-owned club. The way we operate is financially sustainable. We don't operate with debt, we can't take on loans, we don't have an overdraft. So we rely on matchday income.

"If we're forced to play behind closed doors for a sustained period of time, that could mean the end of the football club."

"The implications of this decision and any outcome are significant," added vice-chairman Green. "In the short term, the biggest implication is that it's not viable for us to play without fans in the stadium.

"The bigger wider implication is over the border between England and Wales and how the law is applied on either side of the border and who is responsible for that.

"We're an English football club, based in an English city, playing in an English league and we would expect that English law would apply to us.

"It's going to need some cool heads and common sense thinking and hoping we can find a way forward."

What happened last season?

Chester are confused as to why this situation, if it needed addressing, was not addressed 13 months ago during the first year of the Covid pandemic.

"We were aware of what the regulations were in Wales and what the regulations were in England," said Green.

"But, if we go back to December 2020, we played two home games with fans inside the stadium. in line with English restrictions at that time.

"Back then, Wales was still in lockdown and Welsh clubs were playing behind closed doors. So, for us, there is precedent there."

With attendances for sporting fixtures in Wales currently capped at 50 people, Morris claims that police advised setting up a fan zone.

"They said we can have 2,000 people stood watching a giant screen in a fan park like you see during World Cup years," he said.

"That's absolutely fine because that's in England, but we can't have socially distanced individuals in a Covid-secure compliance within a stadium. It's a farce."