'It threatens our viability... and possibly our survival' - Eastbourne Borough ask MP to back Let Fans In campaign

It's part of a nationwide crusade that's growing in strength daily to put pressure on the government to give the go-ahead for socially distanced crowds to be allowed to watch games.

Clubs are geared up to welcome fans back in in limited numbers and for many, their finances depend on people coming through the turnstiles and spending money.

Many have warned they won't be able to survive for long if the league season starts before fans are admitted again.

Below is the full text of The Sports' letter, written by the club's head of media Kevin Anderson...

"Dear Caroline

Firstly, I am sure that I join with so many Eastbourne and Willingdon residents in appreciation for all the work, including the extraordinary extra workload, that you are getting through on behalf of our town. Sometimes we don’t thank each other enough.

May I add one more cause to your list? At Eastbourne Borough Football Club, we have weathered various storms since our last competitive first-team game, on 13th March. The initial lockdown left us, like many organisations and businesses, virtually without income – although the club was grateful that Rishi’s furlough scheme covered most of our players and paid staff, to see the season through.

We are now steadily planning towards the New Normality. With careful observance of all the Government guidelines, the Club is resuming its central role within the Langney community and the town at large. The clubhouse is back in use, the Owlets Nursery is open again, we’ve resumed coaching of our youth teams, we’ve been working on exciting plans with our partner and major education provider Bexhill College, and our National South squad is back in training ahead of the new season.

But the bright optimistic skies above Priory Lane (you can tell I’m a journalist) still have one huge, menacing grey cloud. It threatens our immediate viability – and possibly our very survival as a community club. Simply, we need the spectators back.

The Premier League counts its wealth in billions. We count ours in footfall, one supporter at a time, through the turnstiles. Match-day income is, by far, our single biggest source of income week to week. But current Government regulations mean that matches at Borough’s Non-League level must be played behind closed doors. And we are, honestly, baffled.

The Government has issued detailed guidelines and protocols. We have studied them, understood them, and can follow them to the letter. Stewarding, temperature testing, sanitisers and hygiene, entrances and exits, socially distanced seating, local authority inspections. We can adhere to every rule. The widely-trailed limit of 25% of ground capacity would allow attendances of around 1,000 (which is actually slightly above our average attendance). Our main stand would have socially distanced seating for those people who are prioritised, and our terraces can easily take several hundred, with nobody remotely shoulder to shoulder. These are not the heaving masses at Cheltenham Races, or the tight-packed stands at Liverpool versus Atletico Madrid. These are local folk, sober and sensible, and with an average age of about 45 or 50 ! (I think we have had one minor disturbance in the last two decades, in 2009 when a visiting Mansfield supporter imbibed too much Harveys Ale….) The social and health benefits for spectators are enormous, too, as we now steadily rebuild morale in our local community and restitch the fabric of our lovely town.

In common with our friends at Eastbourne United, Eastbourne Town and Langney Wanderers, Eastbourne Borough is actively supporting the nationwide #LetFansIn campaign. We urgently need the Government to lift the restriction on paying spectators at football matches from Steps One to Five in the Non-League pyramid (Borough play in Step Two). May we please have your support for this change?

This is not a political issue, far less party-political. The Minister for DCMS always comes across as a thoughtful, reasonable person who will listen. Caroline, I know there are many demands on you at present, but could you please bend Oliver’s ear, and persuade him to give clubs like ours a financial lifeline and a huge boost to morale?

We value your support and interest, and we have always regarded you as a friend of the club. Needless to say, we are always delighted to extend an open invitation to you to visit us at Priory Lane – on a match day or at any other time."

Anderson added: "Our club is 100% behind the #LetFansIn campaign, and I am sure the whole of non-league is united on this issue. Local clubs from Hastings to Haywards Heath, and Eastbourne to East Preston, all need a swift decision.

"It's not only about our clubs' financial health, it's also the huge boost to morale, to local life, to the physical and mental health of our communities. Yes, there is risk, but we can manage that risk. Are our local sports clubs full of reckless chancers, or are they run - and supported - by sober, grounded, ordinary folk? Get those turnstiles open, and we will prove it."