Rugby in Scotland will welcome back fans for the derby match between Edinburgh and Glasgow at Murrayfield next week.
The Scottish Government has supported Scottish Rugby’s plans which will make the 1872 Cup game the first professional rugby contest in the UK to allow access to spectators since the Covid-19 lockdown in March.
The news has been welcomed by both the country’s professional sides who will lock horns in Edinburgh at the national stadium on Friday August 28.
The governing body’s chief operating officer, Dominic McKay, said: “We are delighted that a limited number of spectators will be at BT Murrayfield to watch the Guinness PRO14 match between Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors.
”We are pleased our work with the Scottish Government will ensure that players, support staff, and fans will be covered by a comprehensive event plan for everyone’s safety, including physical distancing requirements.
”We would like to thank the government ministers and officials who have helped us make this happen and our own colleagues who pulled together a robust operational plan for this match.
”We hope that our experience and learnings from a live spectator event next Friday can help all of Scottish sport and the wider events industry to restart.”
Edinburgh Rugby will issue ticketing information early next week, but there should be plenty of scope for a decent-sized audience, given Murrayfield’s capacity of 67,500.
Scottish football is hoping to take similar action as early as next month.
