Ash United's first two home league games have provided the opportunity for the club to test its Covid-19 protocol, having come through the first experimental test with the home friendly against a Colney Heath team on Saturday 29th August 2020. That match seeing the club pass the conditions to uplift the number of spectators in the ground from 150 to a maximum of 300.

The first two home league games also allowed the club to conduct a live review of the procedures that had been put in place and small revisions to the protocol were implemented between the visits of Bagshot and AFC Hayes.

It is undoubtedly a massive challenge for clubs at Step 6 to deal with the Covid-19 guidelines from both the Government and the FA. For clubs like Ash United, it is all the more challenging because the football side is governed by the FA and Government guidelines, but the social club comes under different Government guidelines, making things a little more confusing for a lot of spectators.

The plethora of signs; the instructions and directions of entry and exit; along with the club having to make sure that spectators keep to the various "bubbles"; and that we ensure social distancing requirements in the bar areas, all make for a harder life for the limited number of volunteers and club officials that we have.

As ever, it is proving hard to manage because people generally have more questions than we can provide answers for and the situation can be confusing. However, for the first two home games we have managed and nothing has gone awry. Our small band of club volunteers have gone about their additional duties with a smile on their face and a bunch of sanitising wipes in their hands in readiness for any situation within the ground.

Our test and trace provisions appear to be working well, although spectators will need to get used to having to wait a little longer for entry to the ground, because of the need to give us names and contact numbers. Perhaps in a sign that football supporters are anxious to put Covid-19 behind them and go and watch games, our attendances at the first two home games are up on our average for the truncated previous season. Our protocol will no doubt come up against its biggest test with the visit to the Third Generation Services Stadium of Jersey Bulls, later in September.