What Goes On Behind Closed Doors at Easter Road
Football stadiums are not supposed to be empty. Our 20,000-seater stadium is tucked away off the centre of Edinburgh, a long-throw away from the area with the highest population density in Scotland (Leith Walk).
But since March, and until at least October, that has been our reality. So what does a Behind Closed Doors (BCD) game look like at Easter Road and how does it differ from our usual matchday operation?
Inspired by Maggie Murphy’s insight into their efforts at Lewes in welcoming suppporters back at games, here’s a look at what a BCD match at Easter Road looks and feels like.
- Our average attendance is circa 300
The overarching principle for BCD fixtures is to limit the number of people to those essential for match delivery. However by the time you add in each squad (around 40 between players, coaching, analysis, medical, media and security), TV broadcasters (between 10 and 40 depending on who the host broadcaster is), club TV and media, directors, photographers, press, scouts, stewards, cleaning, stadium maintenance, groundsmen and match officials we have almost 300 individuals in attendance.
2. We’ve had to redesign every step of the experience
The stadium and its immediate environment have been split into three zones: Red (pitch and changing areas), Amber (seating bowl and other stadium areas) and Green (external stadium footprint). Those in the Red Zone are required to have returned a negative COVID test within the week leading up to the game, with numbers controlled and movement between zones discouraged.
Everyone has a designated entry point, linked to the zone of the stadium they’ll be operating in. When they arrive they’re temperature-checked and complete a short verbal health questionnaire before being given a zone-specific pass and entering. Anyone with a high temperature will be retested and denied access if necessary. Face coverings are also worn throughout to minimise the risk of spread, and hand sanitiser stations are dotted around key points of the stadium.
Designated seats are marked with ‘Please Sit Here’ stickers to keep everyone adequately distanced.
And not a pie or bovril to be seen…
3. Changing rooms were a massive headache for everyone
I’d wager the area that caused clubs the most stress was changing room arrangements. Though the players are in close contact during the game, they are required to minimise contact outwith the 90 minutes, so social distancing extends to the dressing rooms.
Our home changing area is a good size and they have a warm-up gym attached so we were fine with that, but the away was more challenging.
We had five options drawn up and settled on the South Lower concourse, usually used to house the opposition fans. A temporary partition was installed, non-slip mats rolled out and wipe-down chairs for each player and coach. It’s not an ideal solution but keeps the group in one location in a socially distanced way.
And if you see players in towels in the background during the post-match analysis on Hibs TV, it’ll be the away players heading to the traditional away changing rooms to make use of the showers (half are blanked out and the temperature turned down to keep the steam away).
4. Communication is key
The matchday experience is different for everyone, and will be for supporters when they return.
One of our main priorities was to keep it as ‘normal’ as possible, especially for the players. We had one bounce match to help them acclimatise to an empty Easter Road, and spoke to them in advance to explain anything that was different to what they were used to. They’ve had a lot of change to adjust to, and the results on the park suggest they’ve dealt with the disruption well.
We have a 100-page overarching protocol and risk assessment, with a dozen or so tailored matchday guides for the different matchday stadium user groups containing all the information they need in advance of the game.
We’ve installed signage around the stadium, both directional and reminders of the new rules in place. You can never have enough, especially when they pepper the large voids of grey concourse, but it has hopefully helped keep folk right on a matchday.
But control measures are only useful when people follow them. We can have all the protocols and all the signs possible but when you introduce the human element things never quite go as you imagined. During our planning we tried to consider the element of human behaviour and not implement controls that won’t be followed because they are too confusing, unnatural or just don’t make sense to people.
At the time of writing we’ve had three home league matches and we’re learning with each one, as well as picking up good practice from other grounds we visit for away games. The guidance also changes from week to week, so we’re constantly evolving our plans to make the next match a better experience than the last one.
5. Artificial crowd noise isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing
We had all watched games in England, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in the build-up to our return to play, so had a reasonable understanding of the varieties of methods other leagues used to simulate the match atmosphere for stadium users and the TV audience. We weren’t going to have the resources for AI-led solutions based on FIFA or a comprehensive soundboard of archived matches to play in-tandem with the flow of the match.
However we played pre-season matches both with and without crowd noise played through the PA system, and the feedback from the players was unanimously in favour of having it.
We made a quick edit based on crowd noise from previous seasons, trying to remove any match-specific peaks in volume or reaction (goals, chances, misses, ref whistles etc).
The result was a loop of audio that acts as white noise during the game — enough to be conscious it’s there and take away the rattle of individual shouts bouncing round the empty stadium, but without anything too distracting as to make it feel jarring or out of place. That’s maybe helped by our usually inaudible PA system — we might need a new edit with the new one about to be up and running!
And if you pick up any ‘Super John McGinn’ chants in the mix, just pretend it’s for Paul instead.
Note the noise you might hear on the Sky coverage is different to what we play in the stadium — they layer their own mix on as part of the production.
6. The experience is, in every sense of the word, empty
I shouldn’t be ungrateful, because there are thousands of fans desperate to be back at Easter Road and we appreciate the privilaged position we are in to be able to watch the games in person.
But it’s not the same. It doesn’t come close.
For me, the big pay off to working in football is matchdays. It’s everything you work towards — creating the best environment for players and fans. The anticipation, build-up, seeing the stands fill-up. The sound as supporters follow every kick and movement. The roar when we score and the frustration when we don’t. The colour, the passion, the energy.
BCD games are empty. Empty of supporters, empty of emotion, empty of occasion.
It is undoubtedly better than nothing, and I’ve enjoyed getting together with family and friends to watch our away matches on TV. The social side of matchdays are as important as the game itself, and it’s that we need to get back to as soon as it’s safe to do so.
We are working through plans for the return of fans just now — drafting, redrafting, measuring every area of the ground and redesigning the matchday experience for everyone that comes to the stadium. Did you know there was more than one way to measure a metre?
If you haven’t had your fill with this walkthrough of our matchday protocols you can have a read of the guidance we’re using to plan out the return of spectators.
It’s going to be a long road back and we don’t know what it looks like or how long it’ll take, but with patience and perseverance we’ll be back to a packed Easter Road as soon as we can.
