Here at Hitchin Nub News we're big supporters of our local sports clubs including the mighty Hitchin Town.

Here's Chris Newbold, Hitchin Town's communications officer with all the latest news from the Canaries as he explains how football can return to Top Field.

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I am sure that most, if not all of you, will appreciate that before we can accommodate spectators back to Top Field to watch football, we have a considerable amount of challenges and directives from the FA and our league to address.

The management committee met to discuss and appoint a team of club volunteers to put measures into place to ensure that spectator safety and maintenance of social distancing is our priority concern, and that all measures that we do have to take will ensure these can be safely managed within our current very limited match day volunteer team capacity.

David Tudball has very kindly agreed to take on the role of club Covid-19 officer.

While doing our best to consider everyone's circumstances in this unprecedented situation, we have had to make some very tough decisions to ensure we will meet necessary compliance with FA and league requirements, and what we can actually physically manage at matches.

So, when we are able to return to football at Top Field and watch our team, the following changes will be necessary:

The ground capacity will be limited to a maximum of 500 paying spectators.

We will be limiting the away support capacity to 50 maximum.

We have a mandatory requirement to collect personal data for NHS Track and Trace requirements (and please note that our mandatory order comes from the FA), for everyone who attends games at Top Field.

We will be looking to minimise, or better still eliminate, the need for queuing at turnstiles. They face out onto a public walkway and the risk of not being able to comfortably socially distance there is at a maximum.

We will not be able to accept cash payments for match day purchases.

We will therefore be asking all spectators wishing to attend games at Top Field next season to buy their match tickets online in advance of games for all of the above listed reasons, with the contact data collected during the online purchase.

With this in mind, our season ticket holders will at all times have priority entry to games, including any FA Cup games when season tickets do not apply.

We have decided that we will retain our 'Early Bird' prices of £185 Adults, £110 Concessions, £25 Teenagers, for Season 2020-21.

For those who do decide to invest in a season ticket, this will represent an even bigger saving on buying individual match tickets. We can also arrange an instalment payment plan if this helps.

Match day tickets purchased online will cost £12 adult, £8 concession, £2 teenager, U12 accompanying an adult (maximum two children to one adult), free.

These will be able to be bought online up until 12pm midday on the day of the game (3pm kick off) or 4pm (745pm kick off).

We appreciate that we do have a small number of supporters who may not readily have the facility to book online.

We would ask them to do their best to find someone who can assist them with booking. If any of you know any supporters in this position, please can you let them know, and if at all possible, please offer them help – thanks.

If anyone has any specific questions about advance purchase of tickets, please email [email protected].

We recognise that for some, the transition to buying your tickets online before the game represents a big change.

But our main objective has to be that people can still watch a game of football inside Top Field.

We either make tough decisions or we have no football.

To meet this objective, we must ensure that when the season starts, everyone who steps into Top Field Stadium can feel that they are in a safe environment and we have taken all possible steps to minimise and mitigate the risks of spreading the Covid-19 virus.

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you back to Top Field as soon as this is possible. We will keep you posted with developments as we go.

Chris Newbold. Hitchin Town communications officer