Safe standing introduced today at Chelsea. Meanwhile at Birmingham City from what I can see every single away supporter, even the kids, stood for the entire game, and as far as I know there was no attempt to ask people to sit. Rules eh?
So presumably if one suffers from ill health/can't stand for long periods etc, one should just not attend?
For away games that might be the only option if yesterday is anything to go by, it was the fans who chose to stand. Just the nature of many of the people who go to away games I suppose (I don’t go to many, but should do). Next to me was a family with 2 kids under ten, who stood on their seats for much of the game. They all loved it, the mum was even relaxed about the language, burly blokes turning round to apologise for their swearing frequently, to which she responded ‘it’s a football match, it’s what I expect’ with a smile. The only way to enforce sitting would have been steward action by little Hitlers like that fat bloke which would have ended badly. Or you could buy a seat in another part of the stadium, like a neutral.
Not sure. I realise there is demand for standing areas and I probably wouldn't mind doing it, at least for a the next few years. I also acknowledge that it would help with atmosphere. I was playing devil's advocate to an extent, wondering how fans with chronic pain conditions etc would cope with standing if the entire away section was stood. Maybe the first few rows could be designated as sitting for those that don't want to or can't stand? All standing sections are fine by me in a ground, so long as there are not safety issues.
I think that’s the answer going forward, safe standing areas for away fans and designated seats where sitting is expected and enforced for them. The club has to decide how many of each type to buy. Doesn’t help in situations like yesterday though. Perhaps there was some sitting on the periphery of the away fan block (I didn’t see), but as there wasn’t any choice on where your seat was hard to pick and choose. There was an area for wheelchair fans though.
I was right on the periphery yesterday (seat no1) and no-one sat...So I didn't as I wouldn't be able to see if I did. The seat was so on the periphery I could see regardless of the standing but..... I am for rail seating...but not for me (for obvious physical reasons). I always assumed that rail seating meant JUST standing....as no one will sit there...and to be honest cannot understand why the seats are there at all (other than to give you a designated place as "your own".
The seats are there for precisely that reason - to give you a designated spot and to prevent overcrowding/crushing. I think some German grounds can easily remove the seats to create old style terracing….usually done when they are relegated from Bundesliga A…. If you design the rail seating well, ie very steep stands with a bit of height between each row, you really can either sit or stand unless you have a giant in front of you. I seem to remember this was the case in Wolfsburg’s stadium where they also had plastic stein sized cup holders for your beer. But you’d have to build stands from scratch to achieve this. Would actually work well to increase capacity and comfort at KPFS - very tall narrow stands surrounding the pitch……..exhausting getting to your seat up a mountainside though.
I voted for it in the hope in the future we can return to some terracing. My logic being if we can increase the capacity to 24,000ish, we could remain at Loftus Road
that is correct, so no increase in capacity. But I hope in the future they deem it safe to return to terracing
Part of why they might not hurry into this could be the fact that almost everyone stands up in the R and Q blocks anyway. People who want to stand up get tickets there (I imagine that's already been mentioned somewhere here!).
Just had an email from the club saying that half of the Lower Loft is going to be converted to rail seating, and PU block in the Upper Loft converted to be a family stand. I’ll try and post the image. Decent view down there when I sat with Ninesy, and when I used to stand in the old days. Very tempted. ‘Only respond to the proposal if you have objections to it’ I thought clubs installing these seats had to make a similar number available for away fans.
So I'm in the area they are proposing and sit in the back row. My son and I are both very tall and when we stand we can't see the other end of the pitch (due to overhand of the stand above). I can't ask to move forward as whoever is behind us will not be able to see anything. All a load of bollocks as far as I'm concerned and this area has been selected by people it doesn't affect.
