Manchester City, a football (soccer) stadium in the UK, banned all sunscreen products. According to a thread of tweets between a game attendee and the stadium’s support staff, “sun cream will not be permitted on entry into the stadium”. The stadium offers little shade and temperatures soared in the UK this summer. This caused an outcry from fans and UK-based cancer organizations.
Melanoma UK stated that the ban is “very worrying” and urged the stadium to rethink its policy. Melanoma is the most common form of cancer and is very prevalent in the UK with over sixteen thousand cases a year. The UK also has one of the largest populations of redheads, who are at an even higher risk for developing skin cancer.
The stadium stated that they urged attendees to apply sunscreen beforehand, but with the average game lasting almost 2 hours, plus wait time before and after the game, fans could be sitting in the heat for upwards of 3 hours. As we all know sunscreen should be reapplied at a minimum every 2 hours, which leaves fans vulnerable near the end of their day.
Read the tweet and the outcry from fans:
The tweet was met with outrage from other fans who also questioned the ‘ridiculous’ decision. @Steptoesyard said ‘appalling this’, while @AlexanderBhoy88 described the move as ‘appalling behavior’.
@TeamDorling tweeted: “Why on earth are you banning suncream in a heatwave?! You worried the fans are going to prevent the players from getting skin cancer?!”
@Azul_76 posted: “Ridiculous. Recommendation is to apply sunscreen at least every two hours If the reasoning is ‘supporter safety’ what about the safety when in the sun during or after the game? Not everyone goes straight from home door to the ground & back either.”
One fan replied to the post to say they were traveling with a relative who recently had skin cancer, with @ManCityHelp replying to the supporter asking them to email over details if they needed to ‘bring anything into the Stadium for medical reasons’.
What are your thoughts on this? Rock it like a Redhead!
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