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EURO 2020: HOSTING A MAJOR FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC – THE UK PERSPECTIVE FEATURE / STEPHEN BOYCE & MIKE PATTERSON Despite Scotland and England being part of the UK on the global stage, Scotland has its owned devolved government. Covid restrictions and public health guidance was different between Scotland and England. This led to significant problems in planning for the tournament, for UEFA, the national teams, and both UK CMO’s.
Following the declaration of the covid 19 global pandemic the UEFA European Championships due to be held in the summer of 2020 were postponed by a year to 2021. These championships were to be different. Instead of one large country or two smaller countries co-hosting the event, UEFA had awarded the tournament to eleven cities across Europe. The idea was to provide an opportunity for smaller nations to host part of a major football tournament that would otherwise not have the resources to do, bringing live matches to a larger fan base. The semi-finals and finals were to be held at Wembley stadium in London.
Glasgow Four matches were scheduled to take place at Hampden Park, Glasgow; three group matches and a last 16 knockout match. UEFA have a list of medical regulations required for hosting a tournament. This involves the stadium (players and crowd), training venues, team hotels, referees, VIPs, staff, and major incidents. The Glasgow medical plan had been prepared by Dr John Maclean in 2018/2019. Due to the Scotland national team qualifying for the tournament, he stepped down as CMO to concentrate on his role as national team doctor and I took over the CMO role in January 2021 at the height of covid, with Scotland under significant government restrictions. A comprehensive medical plan for all aspects
The logistics of organising a transcontinental tournament would be challenging in normal circumstances, however, the addition of covid measures increased these difficulties significantly. International travel, government restrictions and public health legislation varied across European countries, and even within sovereign states. The governance of the tournament consisted of an overall CMO in charge of the tournament appointed by UEFA, with a CMO appointed for each host city. Following the introduction of covid travel restrictions, the CMO’s could not meet in person, with meetings coordinated by the UEFA medical department via video conference. I was appointed the CMO for the Glasgow and Mike Patterson the CMO for London.
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of the tournament at Glasgow now required the addition of covid mitigation measures. Covid restrictions in Scotland were different to England throughout the pandemic. The differences in each nation’s public health approach reflected epidemiology, public health strategy, and the complex political landscape between UK central and devolved governments. All of this needed to be presented in a unified way to the national participants and UEFA by the UK CMOs. UEFA asked for guarantees that the tournament would take place in June 2021. The Scottish Government could not provide these guarantees and it wasn’t clear if the tournament would take place in Glasgow. Two host cities, Dublin, and Bilbao had their matches moved to alternative venues as the respective governments could not provide these assurances. After many meetings with the Scottish Government, public health authorities and the local organising committee (LOC), the Scottish Government finally agreed at the end of March 2021 that the tournament would take place. The number of fans allowed inside the stadium and covid mitigation procedures had still to be agreed.
