ACCORDING to official figures, a total of 1,730 people were killed and another 185,540 were injured on Britain’s roads in the year to June 2013. Globally, there were 15 passenger plane crashes resulting in 362 fatalities. Little wonder, then, that there has been such a clamour for cars and aircraft to be banned seeing as their safety cannot be guaranteed.
Or rather, there haven’t been any such demands. Instead, the focus has quite rightly been on improving safety wherever possible, which is a sane and rational response to such problems. There is no need for any sledgehammers to crack any nuts. Which is all a long-winded way of getting to the point of this blog – that the debate over safe-standing needs to be equally reasonable and not defined and determined solely by tragedy.
Last week, it was announced that clubs in the Football League were being consulted about the possible return of standing to grounds in the Championship. “It is now over to the clubs to get their views,” said Shaun Harvey, the Football League’s chief executive. “Speaking personally, I do not have strong views on this and it is genuinely a matter for the clubs.”
Old-style terracing at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground (Pic: Propaganda)
Like Harvey, I don’t have particularly strong feelings on this issue either way. I identify with the Football Supporters Federation’s argument that many fans would prefer to stand but, equally, I wonder if rail seats would make a significant enough difference to the matchday experience to be worth fighting for. For me, the halcyon days of the Kop, Gwladys Street, Stretford End, the Kippax and all of the other cherished terraces are in the past and it’s difficult to see how standing in front of a folded-up seat with a barrier in front would bring them back.
That doesn’t mean, though, that the debate isn’t worth having but the problem is that whenever the potential for introducing safe standing – and it’s up to you whether or not you believe such a thing is possible – is raised, it is immediately met with references to Hillsborough and Heysel and attempts are made to make those who are leading the campaign feel like they are disrespecting those who perished in those disasters.
It is important to stress that this is not to say that Hillsborough and Heysel are not relevant to the debate because only an idiot would suggest otherwise. When a total of 135 people die whilestanding on terraces then the thoughts of their loved ones and those who investigated the disasters and their causes shouldn’t just be taken into consideration, they have to be absolutely prominent.
But it is also vital that the question of whether it would be possible for standing to be safer in 2013 than it was in the 1980s, when many terraces were rightly described as death traps, is able to be asked without people being made to feel guilty for it. The alternative is for improvements in safety, policing and attitudes towards the wellbeing of supporters to be dismissed as irrelevant, as if no progress whatsoever has been made since 1989.
When Lord Justice Taylor quite rightly recommended the introduction of all-seater stadia in his report into the Hillsborough disaster, he did so at a time when clubs and police forces had proven themselves unable to be trusted to guarantee the safety of those who preferred to stand at football matches. Sheffield Wednesday, for example, had not even seen fit to secure a safety certificate for Hillsborough even though there had been a number of incidents at the ground in the years preceding the tragedy that took place there.
“It was a splendid report,” Peter Robinson, Liverpool’s then chief executive, said. At that time, in that climate, Taylor took the best option available to him, which was to ensure that every fan was provided with a designated seat with the emphasis on safety, security and comfort being heightened. Football has not looked back and although the atmosphere at English grounds has suffered, that has been a small price to pay for millions of people up and down the country being able to attend matches in the knowledge that their wellbeing is not being compromised as it was 25 years ago.
“Before long we’ll have a generation of fans who’ve never stood,” Robinson said at the time and his prediction has now come to pass. Sitting at football matches is now absolutely the norm, although there are also numerous games in which supporters stand in seated areas without any problems. But the cultural sea change in how supporters watch football should not prevent an examination of whether safe standing would be a workable improvement or an unnecessary backward step.
It is not “a retreat from sanity”, as some have argued, to give consideration to safe standing. If anything, a failure to do so would suggest an acceptance that England’s clubs, police, emergency services and football authorities have failed to move on whatsoever since the 1980s, a decade that was darkened by their negligence and laissez-faire attitude to crowd safety.
Modern style rail seats in Klagenfurt, Austria (Pic: Jon Darch / FSF)
There has been significant progress that must be factored into the debate and that’s without making the very obvious point that the Hillsborough disaster occurred in one particular terrace, in one particular ground and was caused primarily by the failings of one particular police force and one particular club.
Whether those failings would still be possible today is a moot point – although given the improvements in health and safety provision at stadia one would like to believe they have been rendered if not impossible, then certainly highly unlikely – but again, that should be explored.
If, after such an investigation, it is deemed that safe standing is a contradiction in terms and that there is any risk of tragedy then it should be dismissed. But the very least that the idea deserves is calm consideration without those in favour of it being brow beaten for having the temerity to believe that safety at our grounds has improved sufficiently for it to become a possibility.
This article first appeared on The Times website and is reproduced here with permission.
In Ireland, GAA is a massive sport and a considerable number of grounds are fully terraced, although the numbers is question would be considerably lower than in the Premier League. However, the flagship stadium Croke Park has a terraced area which holds 10-15 thousand people with no incident.
As long as its organised and policed properly, I see no issue with safe standing. As the article points out, the issue is getting that level of trust in the authorities, which is quite a leap considering past, and indeed present, issues.
The debate and discussions might be perfectly reasonable and innocent.
But please excuse me if I don’t trust any such suggestions till the whole of Hillsborough is finally completed and those responsible are dealt with accordingly.Only then can we even consider any changes to football grounds and safety.
Let’s just leave things as they are for the moment.No sidetracks;no diversions;no red herrings.
Even though I feel I’m only adding my honest opinion as I see it, I feel compelled to add a disclaimer that I hope no one is offended by my view as none is intended.
As someone who experienced the terraces of the 80’s and someone who experiences the stadiums of today, I don’t understand this debate about safety whatsoever. I understand and respect BrianB’s point in the above comment but that’s a separate debate regarding should we bring back standing as opposed to the issue of is it safe.
I’d be intrigued and grateful if someone could help me to understand what dangers there are from safe standing areas as I’m struggling to see one. In fact, I’d go as far as to say the risk is identical to sitting in your seat. If you’re asking would I like to go back to the standing of the 80’s terraces then the answer is categorically ‘absolutely no chance’. We couldn’t anyway, we’ve come too far and there’s no going back.
The truth is, I remember those pre Hillsborough days of football very fondly. It was only the result of Hillsborough that I stepped back and realised how dark those days were as a young football fan and how, unfortunately, the grounds were an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully, the implementation of the recommendations of the Taylor report changed all that but as we’re all only too aware it tragically took 96 deaths for that transition to take effect.
Back in the 80’s the appeal of football for me was the atmosphere of it more than the actual football. Meeting mates, travelling the country on trains, the police escort to the grounds and the ‘tensions’ with opposition fans. Then the camaraderie of all singing together. Now, I go to Anfield to spectate. It’s all about the match. I don’t sing now. I don’t like sitting in a chair clapping my hands and singing, especially as I don’t sit with any mates. I’m not very vain but I do have some self respect. The problem is, I still like that aspect of singing and miss it. I always leave Anfield feeling a little bit hollow even after a win as I’ve always associated Anfield with atmosphere. If we’re honest, the singing there now is confined to the back of the Kop. The people who stand.
So, do I want to see standing return – Yes. Do I think it’s safe – Absolutely. Do I think there becomes a slightly higher risk of harm – Not at all. We’ve gone full circle since the 80’s. We’re never going back there and never want to. It’s now time to take another step and try to return some atmosphere to these safe modern stadiums (if we’re ready to regarding BrianB’s point).
If anyone wants to see what the safe standing areas look like there’s a video on this link. http://www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/safe-standing/
Excuse me for labouring the point here but this isn’t the time to even think about having any discussions whatsoever about safety in football grounds.
I probably sound paranoid and the reason for that is quite simple;I am paranoid.
I’m suspicious about the timing of any such discussions because for nearly 25 years now we’ve had obstacles,misdirection,innuendo,rumour,distraction designed to handicap efforts to get at the absolute truth and bring the culprits to justice.
Every time it gets close something like this crops up and the next thing you know half truths and lies are reported as fact in the guise of an open and honest debate.The media gets a hold of it and mixes it in with phone-ins and text votes whilst twisting and distorting the real issue.
So,let’s just accept what we’ve got at football grounds for the moment and get on with it.There are some very important investigations going on at the moment relating to Hillsborough.We’ve all heard the truth but we’re still a bit away from justice.
Please believe me I’ve seen it all over the past 25 years.These apparently innocent little things will get blown out of all proportion and are used by sections of the media to influence perceptions of events.
Just by way of example the BBC reported a year or so back that a former chief constable of Liverpool blamed Liverpool fans for Hillsborough.They were talking about Bettison!No further explanation,no qualification.
I shudder to think what they would make of Liverpool fans discussing a return to standing on terraces!
BrianB, why should the whole of football in the UK have to wait for Liverpool before we decide what’s safe and what isn’t? Your main point is that Liverpool fans would get misrepresented if they dared to discuss a ‘return’ to standing, how selfish can you get? If it’s so much of an issue for Liverpool FC and it’s supporters – don’t do it. This is not, however, a reason for football as a whole to not move on.
Football has changed A LOT in 25 years. Safe standing terraces are nothing like the old terraces used to be, and even terraces that still exist now are much safer than they used to be in the 80’s. Policing and stewarding of grounds accross the whole country has improved dramatically and the fact is, standing happens at almost every game you can think of.
I support a lower league team myself, and I have stood for years with no trouble whatsoever. What I find even more amusing in the blunt objections of some Liverpool fans, is that I have also been lucky enough to STAND in the Kop TWICE in the last 5 years. Yep, STAND. Everyone around me was stood. No problems at all. No one went mental with Hillsborough references, they just stood and sang together to support their team.
Lies and deceit from the media dating back 20+ years is not, IMO, a valid reason to not consider this. If Liverpool Football Club dont want to participate, then fine. It is understandable given the circumstances. However, this should not stop the rest of the country from pursuing a form of watching football that is just as safe as sitting is now. I don’t see how safe standing will detract from any form of justice for the unfortunate souls and the families of the 96 who died in ’89.
Well mate,the whole of football doesn’t have to wait.You just get on with it.Do what you think is right!
You sound like you’ll be happy.And I wouldn’t deny you that.Good luck.
Standing won’t help the lack of atmosphere unless people are able to move around. All the while a ticket gives you a single spot only, groups of friends are not going to be able to get together All these “safe-standing” systems offer is an increase in capacity over seating. Which in itself can be seen as an improvement to allow cheaper ticket prices and more people in. We’ll never see it in the PL, though!
Look at this!Missing the point completely.
And that’s what we’re up against!And that’s how it will pan out! Unless we make a stand!
I’ve no doubt that standing can be safe. I just don’t understand the need. I was a Kop regular from 85, and the atmosphere wasn’t much different than it is now. It wouldn’t be cheaper either.