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Brighton & Bournemouth reserve match tickets to thank medical staff


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Brighton & Hove Albion have ring-fenced a minimum of one-thousand match tickets for medical staff on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19.

The English Premier League club is reserving the tickets either for one specific match or spread across a number of games when football resumes.

The club's chief executive has also called on other senior clubs in Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow suit.

Brighton announced on the official club site that its board unanimously approved the decision to donate the tickets to NHS staff, who are under huge pressure in the UK right now attempting to stem the coronavirus outbreak.

"We are working on a range of things across all areas of the community and I hope this will just be the start," said Seagulls chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber.

"We fully appreciate football is the last thing on anyone’s minds at this moment, but we feel this is a small way in which we can show our gratitude for those NHS staff on the front line who are fighting the battle on behalf of all of us and give them something to look forward to.

"Of course the biggest support we can all show our NHS heroes is by following the crucial government advice on social distancing, self-isolating, hand hygiene and using tissues to catch, kill and bin coughs and sneezes."

Barber has also suggested a club-to-club relay approach with the gesture and nominated Premier League neighbours Bournemouth.

Cherries chairman Jeff Mostyn is quoted on the Brighton website; "We are absolutely delighted to match Brighton’s gesture and commit to one thousand tickets, and we will pass the baton to another club with the aim of reaching a significant target so football as a whole can show its appreciation for our country’s NHS workers."

Barber is also hopeful that clubs around the UK can make some sort of contribution to thank the NHS staff for their hard work.

"If each of the 92 clubs committed on average one thousand tickets, with The FA donating for a future England international and Scottish Premier League and Irish League clubs also contributing, we could easily top 100,000 tickets for these heroes," Barber added.

“Of course we also have clubs further down the pyramid who may want to play their part.

"We are seeing some brilliant initiatives from clubs all around the world and I am hopeful that there is more to come from the football family, but this would be fantastic way to honour those heroes on the front line."


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Brighton And Hove Albion Coronavirus Premier League

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