The current plan is that a limited number of fans will be allowed back into stadia from Monday 17th May and as a result, most of the Super League teams have shifted their fixtures to the Monday evening for Round Six to take advantage. It will be the first time in fourteen months, since Castleford and St Helens met on the 15th March 2020, that supporters will be allowed in to cheer on their teams, but number will still be limited and clubs now have the new headache of how to prioritise admissions.
It is understood that the current guidance is a capacity of 10,000 or 25% of an all-seater stadium, whichever is lower, will be permitted initially and this will gradually be increased over the coming months.
Leeds Rhinos will 'take one for the team' to fulfil the SKY broadcasting contract and play their Round Six game against Wakefield Trinity behind closed doors on Friday 14th May with a 19:00 kick-off, but hopefully this will be the last fanless game as the country, and the world, start to re-emerge from fourteen months of lockdown.
Four other fixtures are now definitely scheduled for Monday 17th May when; Castleford Tigers v. Hull KR, Leigh Centurions v. Wigan Warriors, St Helens v. Salford Red Devils and Warrington Wolves v. Huddersfield Giants will all kick off at 19:45. The fourth of these fixtures at the Halliwell-Jones has been chosen by SKY for broadcast as we start to return to some normality with multiple concurrent kick-offs.
The fixture between Hull FC and Catalans Dragons has not yet been confirmed for the Monday night but it is likely that this will be the case once the logistics have been finalised.
With a huge sigh of relief, finally we can get back to watching our game live and giving our boys our full support.