With football being greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, stadium seats have remained empty for the majority of 2020. First the season was put on hold with uncertainty over if it could continue, then when it resumed matches had to be played behind closed doors. An initial phased return of spectators planned to start in October was delayed over fears of a second wave of Coronavirus and now with various new lockdown measures in place across the UK, no one knows when fans will be able to safely return to watch their teams play.
During the second lockdown in England, no men’s teams in the leagues below National Leagues North or South will be able to train or play and women’s competitions below the second-tier Championship have also been suspended.
As we all hope that COVID-19 will one day be a thing of the past, we look forward to a time when stadiums can once again be filled with fans and football can get back to business. However, once current restrictions are eased and fans are allowed back into stadiums, there will be a whole raft of additional safety implications that need to be considered from social distancing to hygiene.
Whilst plastic stadium seating can be cleaned and disinfected with relative ease, the premium stadium seating found in Director’s boxes and executive areas can’t usually just be washed down due to the nature of its composition. Most luxury stadium seating is upholstered in vinyl and whilst it is UV resistant and weather-proof, its not usually totally waterproof. However, much of it is actually anti-microbial, although many clubs may not realise this. For those who are unsure, a quick call to the stadium seating supplier should be able to confirm if this is the case.
Evertaut is a leading UK manufacturer of luxury stadium seating and the majority of the stadium seats it supplies are upholstered in anti-microbial vinyl. The standard vinyl now used by the company is Chieftain Just Colour which has recently been tested to ISO 18184:2019 to determine its effectiveness against Coronavirus. The test found that Coronavirus was eliminated after just over one hour of contact with Just Colour antimicrobial vinyl. This is without any cleaning or disinfection taking place.
Anti-microbial additives are added during manufacture of the vinyl and these remain active throughout its life regardless of how many times it is cleaned or wiped over. More information on this testing can be found here. (LINK: https://chieftainfabrics.com/technical-hub/video-hub/)
At present the future for clubs and fans is uncertain but at the top of the game there are many plans still going ahead for new stadiums to be built and existing facilities to be upgraded. Hygiene will be a key element that designers and specifiers will need to consider more than ever before and so specifying anti-microbial vinyl will likely be a given when it comes to luxury stadium seating.
Similarly, many Premier League Clubs continue to expand areas of premium seats throughout their stadium and may want to check with suppliers that any new seats come with these anti-microbial properties as standard.
Evertaut Limited 