Football League Clubs Vote 'YES' To Safe Standing

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Fantastic news coming from the FSF........ another step closer.....

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/football-league-clubs-say-yes-to-safe-standing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/ ... e-standing</a>

The Football League have agreed to lobby the Government for safe standing areas, reports The Daily Telegraph. It makes happy reading for supporters and comes hot on the heels of their recent safe standing consultation.


The results of the survey were revealed at the league's club meeting in Derby yesterday with 70% of the clubs responding backing safe standing. Chief Executive Shaun Harvey was given an "overwhelming mandate" to lobby Sports Minister Helen Grant.

The consultation took place in December and January following the decision at the Football League's AGM to "explore" the steps necessary for safe standing trials to be run. All 72 member clubs were asked four questions:
1.Should the Football League approach the minister for sport to request that the 'all-seater' stadia requirement for Championship clubs be reviewed with a view to the re-introduction of standing accommodation?
2.Should the Football League approach the Sports Grounds Safety Authority to request that rail seating products be licensed in Football League grounds?
3.Should clubs be permitted to accommodate supporters in rail seating in the Championship?
4.Should clubs be permitted to revert from seating to standing accommodation in League One and League Two following relegation from the Championship?

It's great news for the overwhelming majority of football fans throughout England and Wales, more than half a million of which belong to the Football Supporters' Federation. Numerous surveys on the subject have returned 80-90% support among fans for the introduction of safe standing areas.

While this is further proof that momentum is firmly on the side of the pro-safe standing camp, it doesn’t mean we’ll instantly see fully functional rail seat areas in the Football League.

The next step for the Football League will be to take their findings to the Coalition Government requesting a change in the law. With the Liberal Democrats already in favour, a general election around the corner and such widespread support for the issue, it is bound to prove an interesting process.

Successive Governments have argued that, although fans might back safe standing, there was no appetite for the change from the football industry itself. The results of the Football League’s work demonstrate beyond doubt that this is not the case.

Time is right for safe standing trial

Peter Daykin, Safe Standing Co-ordinator at the FSF, said: “Today's Football League statement makes clear that a proportion of football supporters want to stand and their football clubs are happy to give them that choice.

“In arriving at this decision, clubs have considered the arguments for and against, the opportunities standing affords and the concerns the issue throws up and it is quite right that the football family, the Government and police continue to engage in an open, honest, evidence-led debate on the subject.

“The FSF believe that a small number of controlled trials of safe standing areas is an excellent means of facilitating this debate.

“The 72 clubs of the Football League deserve great credit for the way they have approached this decision, as do the organisation's staff and board, and we would particularly like to thank the many supporters who lobbied their clubs to say ‘yes’ to safe standing. It’s crucial that individual fans continue to make their voices heard on this issue.”

Bob Symns, Chief Executive at Peterborough United, supports safe standing and welcomed the latest news: “Following all the hard work and commitment that has been undertaken by the FSF, Safe Standing Roadshow, and teams from the Football League and Premier League in regard to rail seating.

“I think the result of the Safe Standing Consultation will prove to be a significant, sensible and safe step in the right direction on the road to bringing this extremely credible option to the public and our stadia”

Premier Passion

And it's not just Football League clubs that back safe standing, recent Mail on Sunday research showed that 19 out of 20 Premier League clubs are open to the concept too.

Today’s news is a welcome boost for fans in the Football League but there’s still work to be done in the top-flight and the FSF encourages fans in the Premier League to lobby their clubs to back safe standing.

How can I back safe standing?

If you’re a fan of a top-flight club who’d like to make a difference there are a number of options open to you. The easiest thing to do is to contact your club’s Supporter Liaison Officer and your local MP to make them aware of your support for safe standing, see the basic arguments here.

Want to do more?

If the Safe Standing Roadshow hasn’t been to your club you should arrange a visit soon to show club officials, local council officers, and police exactly what rail seats look like.

We’d also encourage you to carry out a safe standing survey, they have already proved extremely useful at Arsenal and Aston Villa. The aim is to educate club officials to the extent of their fans’ support for safe standing and to reinforce the message to already supportive clubs.

The day might come when your Chief Executive gets the opportunity to put up a hand in favour of safe standing. Your survey might just give them the confidence to do that...

Please join the Football Supporters' Federation. It is FREE and all you need is an email address.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.fsf.org.uk/join/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.fsf.org.uk/join/</a>

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26079503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26079503</a>

Football League calls for safe-standing areas in Championship
Football League clubs have backed calls for the introduction of safe-standing areas at Championship grounds.

All-seater stadiums have been compulsory in the Championship and Premier League since an inquiry into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.

Safe-standing areas, featuring retractable seats, have been introduced abroad, most notably in Germany.

At a Football League meeting, most of the 72 clubs voted for the plans.

•Rail seats are used at some grounds in countries including Austria, Germany and Sweden
•They are used by a number of teams in Germany's Bundesliga, including Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg and Werder Bremen
•The seats can be unlocked or locked, to create either a standing or seated area. In Germany, the seats are put up for league games, but lowered for European matches

Peter Daykin, safe-standing co-ordinator for the Football Supporters' Federation, welcomed the decision and urged the government to support its plans.

He told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's a very significant development in the campaign for standing areas in football.

"We're approaching 25 years since the Hillsborough disaster and both football and policing technology is a completely different ball game now."

On 15 April, 1989, during an FA Cup semi-final tie against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium, 95 Liverpool fans were killed while a 96th was left in a coma and died in 1993.

In September 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron said the police had failed to do enough to stop the Leppings Lane end of the ground becoming overcrowded and found the safety of the crowds had been "compromised at every level".

Daykin says football stadia are much safer now, with improved attitudes and policing techniques.

He added: "If you unpick what happened at Hillsborough, we have successive reports, starting with the Taylor Report in 1990 and finishing with the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report, and they list the reasons why it took place.

"There are numerous reasons, including an attitude that didn't value football fans, where they were able to stand in areas without a safety certificate on crumbling terraces.

"The report also lists criminally negligent policing, poor stewarding, fences and all sorts of things that conspired for Hillsborough to happen.

However, Margaret Aspinall of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, still opposes any plans to allow standing at football matches.

She told BBC Radio 5 live: "We have listened carefully to the arguments but, as far as the Hillsborough Family Support Group is concerned, we had a vote on this and it was a unanimous vote that there is no such thing as safe standing.

"I do not understand why people want to go backwards after so many steps forward."

A rail-seating system, where a seat can be unlocked or locked to create a standing or seated area, is used at some of Germany's biggest grounds, including at Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, which has a capacity of more than 80,000.

Dr Clifford Stott, from the University of Leeds, is one of Europe's leading experts on football crowd management. He said: "Standing goes on all the time in areas designed for seating and it's more dangerous than if we moved to a rail seating system."

Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters' Federation: "There is a significant issue about people standing in seating areas."

Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey believes that the issue has to be debated, but does not expect to see any potential changes implemented in the near future.

He said: "The consultation has given us a better understanding of the wide range of views held by clubs on this issue and we will take our cue from the prevailing opinion.

"We recognise this is both a complicated and sensitive matter that will need significant debate. Therefore, no-one should assume that it will lead to overnight change."

Blackburn managing director Derek Shaw said standing areas could help solve the issue facing most clubs where sections of fans stand in seating areas.

"If the option is there and the circumstances are right and everybody agrees it is safe, and it is passed by the authorities, then I think standing areas are absolutely fine," he said.

A spokesperson from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, added: "Safety for spectators in stadiums is absolutely paramount. The government will continue to work with football authorities on this issue."

 

[yerwot?]

Although the Taylor Report found that standing was not to blame for H'borough , the police and their cronys in the press have used 'standing' to try and diminish their culpability. The public have been disinformed since the tragedy and inevitably some have swallowed the police version, that standing played a major role. How ironic then that the government can hide behind the police being able to veto safe standing. And will.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Wouldn't surprise me if they now did to Malcolm Clarke the same as they did to Dave Boyle of Supporters Direct when he was getting in their faces over fan ownership. They slurred him in the media and used it as an excuse to remove him & SD's funding.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Promising as all this sounds, I'll believe it when I see it.
The plods will fight this tooth and nail, and whatever government think tank gets to have the final say will consist of ill-informed suits more concerned with garnering votes and media-pleasing populism than listening to logic and reason.
I would dearly love to be proved wrong, but I really can't see this happening anytime soon.

 

[Why Always Ste]

There you have it. %99.9 could of voted in favour of Safe Standing and we wouldn't of got any closer to having Rail Seating over here.

The setup involving Govt. And Police means they have the final say and The Suits with no first hand experience of actually being a spectator in a football stadium will vote "No" to this sadly.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Watching the non debate in the Commons a few weeks ago when the Minister didn't want to listen to any
of the arguments in favour of Safe Standing I'm not hopeful that we are going to see this any time soon.
The police and therefore the government think designated seating is the easiest way to control large
and potentially hostile crowds. Sadly we are not viewed like rugby fans or concert goers. In the minds
of those in power a move in the direction of standing is a move in the direction of returning to the
hooligan problems of the 1980s.It's purely a crowd control issue and nothing to do with safety.

 

[Blue Maverick]

How does I work as a season ticket holder? At the moment you are allocated a seat so for Europeans I understand this bit for domestic is it just a free for all like the old days or do you still get allocated that spot, but I thought the idea would be more space for more people or is it one person per spot?

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

Lobbying Helen Grant? good luck with that

You can understand why the hillsborough group would be in opposition but logically there really is no reason against it.

Its obviously safer than standing in seated areas, would improve revenue for clubs as there are more allocated spaces which will mean cheaper tickets and therefore ticket sales will increase and and there would be more people to buy merchandise at grounds,.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

How does I work as a season ticket holder? At the moment you are allocated a seat so for Europeans I understand this bit for domestic is it just a free for all like the old days or do you still get allocated that spot, but I thought the idea would be more space for more people or is it one person per spot?

allocated spot, its just a seat like we have now but locked in position. There is also a rail in front of you to stop people from falling over and pushing into eachother.