Rangers are to investigate the possibilty of introducing safe standing areas at Ibrox. Safe standing areas are used weekly across Europe at football stadiums and other sporting events. The Bundasliga in Germany is a good example of where safe standing is employed to the benefit of fans and clubs alike. In my opinion, this is a good thing. It allows people who want to stand and sing together the opportunity to do so, it reduces ticket prices and increases capacity, thereby reducing the need to build costly new stadiums. It's also proven that it's far more dangerous to stand in a seated area, than it is to stand in a designated standing area. The Sports minister ruled out a similar move in England some months ago, after a Lib Dem motion to discuss it in Parliment. The response was a typical negative piece of fear led politics, citing 'If there was an accident, people would want the person's (who gave the go ahead) head on a stick', despite the fact that Germany have been safely operating this policy for a number of years. It is time that our Government and the FA took a more pragmatic and proactive stance towards safe standing?
I would love it at the Emirates, would really give us an atmosphere IMO. Just keep it lower down obviously. But all it takes is one **** to misbehave and you've got a huge disaster, then its all abolished again, etc.
Not sure if you've seen modern examples of safe standing, but they are nothing like the old dilapidated terraces from days gone by. please log in to view this image This is one example, where there is one row of terrace, backed by an optional seat. There is no danger of crowd surges or being crushed against barriers. Other options include retractable seating - I think Champions League games don't allow standing, so the grounds in Germany are able to adapt to suit.
I hope you're right mate. The sports minister dismissed it out of hand a few months ago. There is a good campaign that the Football supporters federation have, including a petition to support the Lib Dem motion to discuss it in Parliment. http://www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/safestanding.php
The fact that everyone still has an allocated place is pretty important, I think. Next to no chance of overcrowding or some areas getting overloaded. The Bundesliga seems to get quite a lot right at the moment.
It's been proven that it works. There's no reason for the FA not to allow clubs to offer it. The benefits for clubs (increased capacity) fans (reduced ticket prices) the environment (no costly new builds) far outweighs any knee jerk reactive response that we've had from the FA and the Government thus far.
It's a risky proposition for a politician though, Piskie. If someone agreed to it and something went wrong, then their career would be over. There is some opposition to it, too.
I think that's the excuse the politicians are using. However it's proven that it's more dangerous to stand in a seated area than it is to stand in a designated standing area. For me, allowing a situation to continue because it is deemed 'safer' when it actually isn't - is actually a negligent dereliction of duties. There was an incident at Millwall earlier this year where a Cardiff fan fell from a top tier into a lower tier (luckily he survived) because he was celebrating (standing) in a seated area that had insufficent measures to protect him from the accident happening. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-20-feet-stand-celebrating-goal-Millwall.html (apologies in advance for the Daily Mail link)
The SFA have said that they are open to the possibility of a return to standing areas, but have left it up the clubs in Scotland to examine the idea and then go to the SFA with proposals. They have basically said that it will not be like the old days, thank ****, I remember being at a rangers game when I was young and in the standing area, was pretty scary actually, I was quite young tho. The main ideas are similar to the ones that piskie has alluded to, like the one in Germany with the metal railing. About half the clubs are looking into it with the other half dismissing it. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. Tho a main part of the idea is to try and temp people back to games as attendances up here have dwindled, that's not really the case in England. Plus there is also the hillsburgh effect to consider, politicians and the authorities will be very reluctant. Scotland had a similar disaster in the 70s at ibrox, tho that was more down to a structural failure where a part of the steps where people were standing collapse and people got crushed, my own father was at that match and one of his mates died, 66 people died that day, so there is also opponents in Scotland to the idea
It's always going to be an emotive issue, but I think the fact that Rangers are considering it having experienced their own tragedy, speaks volumes about how far on we've moved from the old days of big, open and dilapidated terraces. I used to stand on terraces in the 80's and I know first hand how dangerous some of them could be, especially at away games where you were herded like cattle into small pens for your 'own safety'. Times have changed and I think we need a pragmatic approach to this issue.
Here is a good link about the disaster for any younger fans that never knew about the disaster, it gets very little publicity compared to hillsburgh http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2478000/2478305.stm
Don't forget the Hillsborough tragedy gets more publicity because there is still the argument about the witholding of imformation
I was forced to stand at Stamford Bridge and when we scored our 3rd goal a couple of drunken oafs decided to jump on me.I was consequently njured and ended up seeing the rest of the game from the first aid room.My opinion is that standing in seating ares certainly isn't safe
I think the safest way to handle it is to provide safe standing for those who want to stand and seating for those who want to sit.
