新冠病毒疫情期间举办一场全球性体育赛事非常困难复杂。2020年斯诺克世界锦标赛幕后，有一个专门团队一直在兢兢业业地工作，以确保比赛得以进行。
7月31日，斯诺克世锦赛开赛首日，由于赛事组织方的竭诚努力，部分观众被准许保持距离的情况下入场观赛。但同一天，由于英国一些地方疫情反弹，本该对外开放的比赛突然宣布禁止观众入内，使这项赛事变成了空场比赛。
但比赛一如继往，如火如荼，今天已进入白热化的半决赛第二回合。《英伦飞鸿》节目组，也紧锣密鼓马不停蹄地幕后采访了赛事领导和部分球员，探寻与还原这届特殊时期世锦赛的真实情况。
首先我们采访了大老板巴里赫恩（Barry Hearn)。他全面综合而又言简意赅地介绍了整体情况：“今年世界斯诺克锦标赛的第一天，我们有300名观众参加，可尽管我们采取了安全措施，政府随后还是取消了观众。
“目前我们已经关门大吉，但是决赛大结局的那天，我们有机会再出现少量人群入场。
斯诺克世锦赛是是这项运动首屈一指的最重要赛事。（往年座无虚席）而今年却憾缺了观众，随之而来的是缺少了由其所产生的气氛。第一天还有些氛围，但是（从8月1日）到现在为止已经没有了，电视直播中听到的掌声等等，是我们预先录制好的。
巴掌门（巴里赫恩主席）随后又告诉我，球员们还是可以练球的。他们可以在赛场自己的球桌上练习，也能在保持社交距离的条件下，到自己的俱乐部中练球。预计观众全部允许返回赛场要等到10月底了。
尽管遭遇巨大困难，面临重重阻力，但赫恩主席向《英伦飞鸿》表示，奖金一便士不少，维持新冠疫情之前的水平（240万英镑）。
巴老板不差钱儿。
《英伦飞鸿》又采访了世锦赛的赛事总监唐娜·贝雷斯福德 （Donna Beresford）。她也是确保本届赛事顺利进行的关键人物之一，属于核心成员。谈起筹备过程，她感慨介绍到：
“仅仅是为了举办今年的斯诺克世锦赛，就需要大量的前期准备工作。赛事开始前，所有保护措施的重点，都是为了欢迎自新冠疫情导致全球封锁以来首次入场观赛的观众。（据考证，斯诺克世锦赛是疫情后，在英举办的首次允许观众入场观看的赛事）。
“7月31日赛事第一天，保持着距离的观众隔席而坐，欢迎卫冕冠军贾德.特鲁姆普入场。我们周密部署的防疫安全措施，给现场验查的政府数字、文化、媒体和体育部(DCMS)留下了深刻印象。
然而,新冠疫情在各地传播数据飙升，导致英国政府叫停了观众入场。贝总监失望的同时认为，尽管如此，实施这些措施还是势在必行：“从世界台联的角度来看，我们的目标是让人们尽可能地感到安全。成为第一个这样做的体育项目，真是令人兴奋。
“我们的第一步是确保每个观众都有自己的座位。为了便于排队入场，在克鲁斯堡剧院前面的广场，设置了226个单独的、保持社交距离的圆点。并确保位置的精确性和合理性。
“实现这些安全措施的同时,我们也希望营造一个节日的氛围。在排队入场的地方，我们安排了音乐家现场演奏和一辆流动售货车叫卖冰激凌。在克鲁斯堡（Crucible）剧院里，我们精心设计座位布局，保证了社交距离。不使用的座位被清楚地标示出来。从DCMS和球迷那里，我们得到了很好的反馈，遗憾的是我们只有一天时间和观众相处。
“后面的比赛实行闭门方式，但全世界球迷可以通过电视和视频播放，欣赏到一届赏心悦目的斯诺克比赛。和其他活动一样，赛场后台有一些漂亮狭长的走廊，控制人流非常重要。楼道里到处都放置了洗手液。
“我们也对比赛场地进行了改动。球桌之间的隔屏以往是尽可能足够短到人们可以从一边走到另一边。现在它长及整个场地，把两个球台隔得严严实实。这意味着摄影师、裁判和球员能够在社交距离指导下安全操作，隔屏基本上就像一个大安全屏幕。
“现场人数一直保持尽可能最少。无论是广播员还是工作人员。某些特殊区域只允许特定人员进入。所有工作人员、球员和他们的随员，都要接受严格的核算检测，如果任何一点没有通过，都会被要求离开。
“清洁过程同样严格要求。我们有清洁工,每30分钟清洁一次各个接触点。包括门把手、扶栏和人们不断触碰的任何东西。我们也使用臭氧机定期在场地所有房间工作。这个特殊设备,起到在房间里净化氧气的作用。这个过程必须在夜间进行,因为在臭氧机工作时人们不能进入室内。房间里的氧气被吸入机器，然后机器用紫外线过滤器清洗氧气，再把氧气释放回房间，这样我们就可以不再使用化学药品或喷雾剂，也能起到消毒作用。
虽然球迷们没在现场观赛，但唐娜.贝雷斯福德和世界台联的团队已经尽其所能为克鲁斯堡这个著名场馆，斯诺克的精神摇篮注入了许许多多不同凡响的气氛。
Interview with Barry Hearn
We had 300 spectators in for the first day of the World Snooker Championship this year, but the government cancelled an audience attending immediately afterwards, despite the safety measures we put in place. We are now behind closed doors, but there is a chance we may have a small crowd for the final.
The World Championship is the No. 1 event in World Snooker and it is just that this year we are missing a crowd this year and the atmosphere it generates. There was a great crowd atmosphere on day one, but to date no more, but we have a pre-recorded crowd noise for our TV broadcasts.
The players have been able to practice on their own tables, or with social distancing within their own clubs. TV audiences are up, but we do not expect the return of live audiences until the end of October at the earliest.
All our prize money remains at pre Covid 19 levels.
Interview with WST Event Director Donna Beresford.
Just to stage this year’s World Championship, required hours upon hours of planning and preparation. Beresford was right at the heart of this process and was responsible for making these plans a reality.
On the eve of the tournament, all measures were geared towards being one of the first sporting events to welcome a crowd since the coronavirus pandemic caused nationwide lockdowns around the world.
The socially distanced and limited capacity crowd welcomed defending champion Judd Trump into the arena on the opening morning, as he began his Crucible campaign. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) conducted an inspection on that first day and were impressed by the COVID-secure safety measures which had been implemented.
“The first part of the process was making sure everyone could get to their seats. There were 226 individually printed and socially distanced dots laid out in Tudor Square at the front of the Crucible, to facilitate the queues before sessions. Lots of professional drawings were done to ensure everything fitted. Exact templates were used to lay out the dots at the appropriate distance.
“At the same time as implementing these safety measures, we also wanted there to be a bit of a festival feel. We had a musician on site and ice cream vans integrated into the queuing process. Inside the Crucible, the seating plan was meticulously devised to ensure socially distanced seating arrangements. The seats which were out of use have been clearly marked. We had great feedback from the DCMS and fans, it was just unfortunate with the timings that we only had one day with spectators.”
There are lots of beautiful, narrow corridors at the Crucible and controlling the flow of people through them is really important. We have hand sanitisor available all around the building.
“We’ve also had to alter the playing area. The dividing screen between the tables used to be short enough for people to move across from one side to the other. Now it covers the entire length of the arena floor. This means that cameramen, referees and players can operate safely within social distancing guidelines. It basically acts as a big safety screen.
“The number of people on site have been kept as low as possible, whether this be broadcasters, officials or the rigging crew. There are distinctive zones, which only certain people are allowed in. These include the backstage area, front of house and the TV compound. It is all very regimented. All of the staff, players and their guests are subject to our Covid-19 testing regime and if they fail at any point they will be asked to leave.
“The cleaning and sanitising process has been equally regimented. We have roaming cleaners, who sanitise any contact points every 30 minutes. These include door handles, railings anything that people are constantly touching. We’re also using an Ozone machine periodically in all rooms around the venue. This is a special piece of equipment, which purifies the oxygen in a room. The process has to be carried out overnight, as nobody can be in the room while it is happening. The oxygen inside a room is sucked into the machine, it then cleans it using a UV filter and pushes the oxygen back into the room. This allows us to sanitise an area without using chemicals or sprays.”
The sparkling snooker has continued to dazzle inside this highly sanitised environment. Although fans haven’t been present, Beresford and the WST team have done all they can to inject additional atmosphere into this famous venue…
赵雪湄采访世锦赛
