Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced that due to the change in COVID-19 regulations in the country, fans will be able to return to stadiums to watch domestic cricket.
Venues will soon be able to welcome a maximum of 2,000 spectators at T20 Knock-Out games provided they are fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
The TKO competition is the first Twenty20 tournament to be played in South Africa since CSA restructured the domestic setup.
Each stadium will verify that each fan is fully vaccinated, with fans being able to prove this through their original vaccination card or a printed copy of the South African Government vaccinated certificate. Patrons can also present this certificate digitally.
Fans must also provide an identity document such as a driver’s license or passport to match the details on the vaccination certificate.
Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted that the fans, our most important stakeholders, are coming back to the stadiums. Cricket is yet again in a good space and there is a lot of hard work taking place to ensure that the game of cricket is placed on the top spot.
“We want fans to come and experience the new look stadium experience and we remind fans that tickets will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Due to limited capacity still and to minimise any disappointments we encourage cricket fans and sports followers to quickly get their tickets as soon as sales open.”
The United Rugby Championship (URC) was also recently given the green light to have fans in attendance at its inaugural games in South Africa.
The rugby union club competition confirmed on Friday that all home games scheduled for the Sharks, Stormers, Lions and Bulls in rounds six and seven will take place in South Africa. Plans were being drawn up for potential European locations as South Africa was on the UK travel red list, meaning teams would have had to quarantine for 10 days.
South Africa has since been removed from the red list meaning these games can now go ahead as originally planned.
From today (Monday) tickets for the remaining provincial TKO games will go on sale, with further tickets for the quarter-finals going on sale October 19 and 20 and tickets for the semi-finals and final going on sale October 21 and 22.
Ticket sales will be conducted online only to maintain health and safety regulations with fans able to download and self-print tickets. Seats will be unreserved so that fans are able to observe social distancing and patrons will be spread out across suites, stands and the grass embankments at stadiums.
Moseki added: “We also take this opportunity to remind and encourage all sports lovers to ensure that they are fully vaccinated in order to improve the health situation in the country and to hopefully reduce the COVID numbers, as this will eventually see a growth in the number of fans in the stands.”
Image: John Oswald on Unsplash
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