Football fans are still barred from entering stadiums to watch the teams they love, five months after the pandemic closed the turnstiles across Britain. But at one ground, supporters will at least be able to get a glimpse of their hallowed turf – as long as they have a head for heights.
The Dare Skywalk is opening at the Premier League’s most modern venue, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, allowing people to climb up to the roof and look out across the north London skyline and down on to the Spurs pitch.
With clubs unable to sell tickets to games, it’s one of several alternative ways they are trying to bring in revenue. But most methods aren’t this thrilling, or scary.
The first few minutes are simple enough; it feels like any other match day, noisily clattering up a metal staircase in the bowels of the stadium, slightly giddy with anticipation. The only difference is that instead of a ticket in my pocket and a partisan shirt on my back, I’m wearing a fancy new gilet and a snug-fitting safety harness, to get a preview for i.
The tone soon changes when an innocuous-looking door halfway up the stadium opens to take us on to a narrow ramp, open to the air, that allows me to climb up the outside of the ground looking out west. It is a pleasant foreshadow of what is to come.
My ‘Titanic’ moment on the edge
The climax of the walk is known as “The Apex”, a short, transparent walkway that juts out from the roof over Tottenham’s enormous South Stand and allows fans to look straight down at the penalty spot and have a Titanic moment on the edge.
The club’s famous golden cockerel has always cut a somewhat lonely figure on top of White Hart Lane, old and new. He will have to get used to company over the coming weeks.
There are two sturdy ropes securing me to the structure of the stadium, but I’m not ready to let go of the handrail. I maintain eye contact with the horizon and insist I’m quite happy where I am… and can I get down now?
For anyone thinking it might be their only chance to watch Premier League football in the next few weeks, unfortunately tours will cease 90 minutes before a game and only begin again 90 minutes afterwards. Still, the views are staggering.
A perfect vista of London
Walking up the Seven Sisters Road towards the stadium, it never occurred to me that White Hart Lane offers a perfect vista of London, if you get high enough. The Olympic Park, 1 Canada Square, the BT Tower and Alexandra Palace are all visible on a clear day.
Once you have had your eminently Instagrammable moment at the top, from next year you will be able to abseil down the side of the ground – or even do a “controlled drop”, which is rather like a bungee jump without the bounce, to get to the bottom. For this correspondent, a gentle walk back down the outside of the stadium was more than enough of a thrill.
It does seem counter-intuitive that fans are not allowed to sit in the stands and watch their team play on the basis that it is too dangerous but as of Monday they will be able to wander around 150ft above the pitch perfectly safely. The new normal, it seems, does not always feel like common sense, but the activity has been cleared by the Government’s “Good to Go” protocol and participants are required to fill out a Covid questionnaire before heading up. Social distancing is not difficult when you’re on the roof.
Making Premier League grounds pay
Far below, stadium tours for those with less of a head for heights are operational again, just as they are at other Premier League grounds like the Emirates, Anfield and Old Trafford. Chairman Daniel Levy always said that the development of Tottenham’s new ground, which finally opened last year after months of delays, was about “so much more than a football stadium”, making it a multifunctional destination.
But like at most sports clubs, big and small, Tottenham’s finances are suffering hugely from the pandemic. On top of refunding season ticket holders and being unable to sell more tickets, they have seen boxing, rugby and NFL fixtures at the stadium postponed, along with Lady Gaga and Guns N’ Roses concerts. The club initially planned to furlough some non-playing staff, but reversed that decision after a public outcry. It has since taken out a £175m loan with the Bank of England.
Activities like The Dare – costing £39 for adults and children alike – won’t be able to offset those losses, but every form of revenue is valuable at the moment. The new stadium will soon open its own museum and 12 months of filming will come to fruition when the first episodes of the documentary All or Nothing are released on the same day the Skywalk opens to the public.
There is no angle from which you cannot take a close look at this football club right now – and that includes from 150ft overhead.
experience.tottenhamhotspur.com
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Qquagq
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