akcity said:
southaustralianblue said:
The hypocrisy for me lies in the fact that the club is encouraging the posnan, even to the extent of those embarrassing 'how to do the posnan' t-shirts', and are flouting their own safety rules. This is more about creating an entertainment experience comparable to going to the theatre rather than any safety issues.
Surely they could trial a limited standing area, with plenty of stewards in case of problems to see how it goes
Not without the law being changed. As for encouraging the Poznan, that is a goal celebration, nothing wrong with being on your feet during a goal celebration.
Well obviously there would need to be change, that's the point of the thread, but I think you are confused about exactly what laws apply to which aspect of the issue. The only Legislation that applies is section 11 of the football spectators act which states the following:
-‘The Secretary of State may, by order, direct the licensing authority to include in any licence to admit spectators to any specified premises a condition imposing requirements as respects the seating of spectators at designated football matches at the premises; and it shall be the
duty of the authority to comply with the direction
It then becomes an issue of the ground regulations, which are not codified in an act of parliament, and are provided by way of a model set of ground regulations, to which we adhere. These regulations make two seemingly contradictory demands on spectators: "‘Nobody may stand in any seating
area whilst play is in progress. Persistent standing in seated areas whilst play is in progress is strictly forbidden and may result in ejection from the ground"
So I stand by my point that the club, in promoting the poznan, actually offends the requirements of the regs. This is the hypocrisy, especially if as I hope, we have many more results like we did this week and we bang in a hatful. Why do they encourage one form of breach yet crack down hard on another? There would be no need to amend the Football Spectators Act, just the model regulations, which is within the purview of the League.
There is also the OHS aspect, which is only based on a current risk assessment and is not carved in stone. New preventative measures could be put in place to address percieved risks
At a practical level safe standing will never happen whilst the hillsborough families oppose it, not withstanding the accurate point others have made that this tragedy was more a result of pitch fencing and segregation arrangements