FC Halifax Town v Bradford City match will be played behind closed doors after police advice

FC Halifax Town's friendly against Bradford City will be played behind closed doors following advice from West Yorkshire Police.
FC Halifax in a pre-season friendly against Rochdale.FC Halifax in a pre-season friendly against Rochdale.
FC Halifax in a pre-season friendly against Rochdale.

Town will play the League One side on Saturday July 29.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “There are a significant number of football matches each season across West Yorkshire and for each game we work closely with football clubs, ground safety officers, the Safety Advisory Group, local authorities and other partners when preparing for games.

“Local league clubs were asked mid-season not to host pre-season derby fixtures unless they were evaluated to be of low risk to public safety and not requiring police attendance. Halifax Town FC were not aware of this request at the time due to their then ‘non-league’ status.

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“In conjunction with the Safety Advisory Group, the Force has given guidance to the club and respects their decision to host the fixture behind closed doors.

In a statement FCHT said: “It’s been reluctantly decided that the friendly game between FC Halifax Town and Bradford City AFC on Saturday July 29, will now be played behind ‘closed doors’.

“There’ll be no public entry to this fixture.

“This difficult decision has been taken following advice from West Yorkshire Police. Due to a number of recent unfortunate high profile events, the demands on the force both locally and nationally are unprecedented.

“We’re all immensely disappointed with this outcome, but must respect and be considerate of the current pressures placed on our county’s police force – with the requirement of manpower to oversee the crowd within the ground and within the wider Calderdale and Bradford areas.

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“Full match commentary will be able FREE of charge via our media channels, the usual post match report will be published in the normal way and we’d suggest you sign up to ShaymenTV so you can see all the match highlights.

“Please remember we host Carlisle Utd this Saturday at the MBi Shay 3pm kick-off.

“We thank you for your continued support.”