SAFE STANDING AT FOOTBALL MATCHES
Why can’t we have safe standing at football matches?
by Doug Martin
It seems apt at this time on the 20th anniversary of the “Hillsborough Disaster” to be discussing safe standing at football matches. The fact is that there is safe standing at football matches, just not in the Premiership & Championship, well apart from Cardiff City, who are moving to a new ground next season. Nice to see that they saw off the old ground in its last season with a few arrests following the match against Swansea, would have been nice if there had been a pitch invasion as well though. Anyway, the point is that if it is safe to stand at Ninian Park not to mention most of the bottom two divisions then why not Anfield, old Trafford etc? The simple reason I believe is money & a complete lack of will by the people in charge to change.
There is another enemy to safe standing which is time. It has been well over ten years since standing was possible at a Premiership ground. I personally remember standing at Swindon against Wimbledon in 1994 little realising, that it would be the last time I would stand at a top flight game in this country. There was still standing after this date, for instance Sunderland didn’t move out of Roker Park until 1997 but for me personally Swindon was the last time, Mind you, Hartlepool or Bristol Rovers could always get promoted in successive seasons and change that, hmm, perhaps not. The time factor is important because we now have a generation that has largely grown up with all seater stadiums. What would they think if we ripped up the seats and replaced them with terracing? Would they form a similar campaign to the FSA’S * safe standing one but this time in favour of seating?
In Germany as many people will be aware, they have big areas of standing that are able to be converted to seating for European games. Why can’t we do that here? It seems to me that politics has taken over the question and politicians only do what they think makes them look good & not what is right. I stand on terracing at York City every other week as I have done for the last 26 years and so therefore I am bias towards safe standing but even I have to admit that if I had lost a relative at Hillsborough then I would be against Standing but does this not ask the question that emotions are getting in the way of common sense? After Hillsborough the fences came down as it was rightly seen that if you cage people in like animals then they behave like animals. So therefore why was that situation not allowed to stay. I am no expert & I hope I have not upset anyone but all I know is that the only trouble I have seen at football matches (mainly in the 80’s) has had nothing to do with standing or seating but the individuals involved, in that they were yobs plain & simple. Football grounds became safer because of CCTV, better policing and the fans themselves deciding enough was enough and policing themselves. Football was becoming safer after Brussels in 1985 for those very reasons. All seater stadiums are only one of the reasons for crowd behaviour improving since 1989 & therefore why there has been no fatalities at an English football ground since then.
I personally believe that standing will cease to exist within the next twenty years. This will be a great shame because the positive aspects of terrace culture will be lost forever. Oh well, I suppose some bright wit will write a University Thesis on the subject & become an MP.
We all know that the catalyst for all seater stadiums was the “Hillsborough Disaster” but that terrible day had a lot to do with crowd disorder, as well as the design of the ground & bad security mistakes by the police, not just because it was a largely standing ground. My point is that Human beings are an unpredictable lot and I suspect that one day we will have a all seater disaster. Hopefully I am incorrect on that suggestion. But you never know when it comes to football clubs & how they are run. You only have to remember what little regard the directors of football clubs had for the supporters, err, hang on , that hasn’t changed has it?
One day I will attend a Football game in this country & it will be the last that I will legally stand and watch. The only saving grace is that I will be at an age where I won’t mind sitting but it would be nice to have the choice.
The English Football terrace RIP.
Douglas Martin
17th April 2009
Email: dapmartin@hotmail.co.uk
* Football Supporters Federation
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