Views On Safe Standing

Two years ago, as the Football Fans Union, we first ran a survey concerning a Safe Standing campaign that is championing the return of terracing to football stadiums – not the large, old-style open terraces of yester-year but small, specially-designed areas utilising the latest engineering technology – similar to systems currently used in Germany.

The campaign has received support through the Football Spectators Bill which aims to remove the power to designate Premier League and First Division football stadia as all-seater from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to clubs, supporters and local authorities instead. Construction of safe-standing areas would, therefore, be allowed but not mandatory.

We are re-launching the survey to see if fans attitudes towards Safe-Standing have remained the same or changed over time. The survey is being run in association with When Saturday Comes, the immensely humorous yet deadly serious monthly magazine written by fans for fans, who are kindly offering all survey participants an exclusive opportunity for a 50% discount on their annual subscription. If you are interested you can indicate this at the end of the survey

Below are arguments that have been put forward for and against Safe-Standing over the years.

PROS:

• Technology advances mean ‘terracing’ can now be designed to reach higher safety specifications than in the past
• It’s about freedom of choice. No-one will be forced to stand but neither should people be refused the option to do so
• Simply banning standing is not addressing the issue realistically. Its far safer to stand in purpose-built Safe-Standing areas than to stand in seated areas, which many fans will always do
• Standing is part of football’s heritage, it improves the atmosphere in a ground as well as increasing crowd capacity
• Designated separate Safe-Standing areas would remove tension between those who stand and those who wish to sit but whose view is often obstructed by standers
• Safe-Standing tickets would be cheaper than seating prices allowing more fans to afford tickets
• Safe-Standing areas have been operational in Germany (who defeated England for the 2006 world cup bid using these very stadia) for many years and have been a massive success

“Safe-Standing is about freedom of choice. Every week tens of thousands of people stand at rugby, horse-racing and pop concerts.”

Roger Godsiff; MP

“I was never convinced, regarding the smaller clubs in particular, that the removal of all standing was necessary and I was pleased when this was relaxed following representations by MPs, fans and clubs. While safety must always be the ultimate criterion, there is no reason to ignore technological improvements made since Taylor reported, which might allow for Safe-Standing.”

Tony Blair MP; (pre 1997 General Election)

CONS:

• All-seater stadia are demonstrably safer than standing terraces, however those terraces are configured
• Overcrowding – Closer proximity of fans means they are more likely to get crushed or hurt. Fighting is more likely to break out.
• Less easy to identify trouble-makers as they don’t have allocated seats. Simply can’t trust elements within large groups of fans to behave properly
• Clubs will receive less income from standing than seats and they’ll experience large costs & difficulty in reconverting stadia.
• Fans have to arrive much earlier to get a decent spot when standing as opposed to having an allocated seat
• It is never worth risking the tragedy of Hillsborough again, no matter what the situation.

“..it is doubtful that existing UK stadia could be converted to accommodate German practises without compromising safety standards…the Government had concluded that safety must remain the primary consideration, and remains convinced that the current arrangements are the best.”

From FLA Report to DCMS

“Terracing is not inherently unsafe, if it was then half the grounds in the Football League would have been closed down by now. But the advice we receive from safety experts suggest a terrace designed to the highest safety standards is not as safe as seating and we have the safest and best grounds in Europe designed to the highest technical standards. In addition there are a huge number of practical and cost issues to overcome.”

Phil French, Premier League Spokesperson