JUNE | OPINION
“Most incidents of earth-shattering,
history-defining news come pre-packaged
with a villain. Covid-19 is different.”
would not be banned. The paper
laid blame at the organisers’ feet,
and said the Festival should not
have gone ahead. For context,
on 13 March the Mail ran a
story with the headline “more
than 70,000 racegoers brave
Cheltenham”. Heroes become
villains very quickly, when
they’re needed to.
I asked Cheltenham
organisers The Jockey Club
to comment but they politely
declined, saying they were “not
giving any further interviews
or statements regarding this
year’s Cheltenham Festival.” I
understand their desire to lay
low, and it does seem to have
worked - although other outlets
including the BBC picked up the
story, it has since quietly faded
into the background.
In the long run, though, I don’t
think we’ll be able to lie low
and wait out this story. Events
are beginning to return, and
with them the inevitable risk of
re-infection. For some, this is a
necessity rather than a privilege.
Addressing the problem
directly is the only way to get
ahead of it. Anyone thinking
of holding a socially distanced
event in 2020 will need to go out
of their way to shout about their
use of hand sanitiser, distancing,
temperature checks and more.
They will need contingency
plans for if infections do occur,
and they will also need at least
some kind of media strategy if
they find themselves getting the
“prof lockdown” treatment.
We need to ensure that our
first priority is the safety of
those in attendance at any
future festival or live event. In
other words, the events industry
can’t get caught with its pants
down, thinking with its (ahem)
wallet instead of its brain.
Based on the levels of
creativity I have seen across
the outdoor events industry
in imagining new, safe kinds
of events, I don’t doubt our
ability to do it. Whether it is
German football restarting
with cardboard cut-outs
instead of fans (see p37), or
festival organisers pivoting to
drive-in events with waiters on
rollerskates (see cover feature)
– the ideas and the experience
are there.
Let’s make sure the story that
gets told is the Captain Tom
story, about resilience in the
face of uncertainty, rather than
the “pants around your ankles”
one.
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