Because certain parts of football grounds are widely acknowledged as singing areas, so small, elderly and infirm people who go to games wouldn't go there anyway. Because you're wrong about singing when sat down - you can't breathe in as much or sing as loudly. Because no atmosphere ever gets going from a seated position. Because when people get excited about something (like, say, the team they adore), they tend to stand up when watching it. Because it's annoying to keep standing every time there's a chance and end up knackering your knees on the seat in front, when you could just remain standing throughout. Because the Taylor Report which forces this all-seated travesty is based on Police lies and corruption, and is therefore invalid in the eyes of thousands of fans who've stood safely and passionately in football grounds for decades. Just a few reasons. Solidarity with those 38, hope they get their seats back along with a grovelling apology and reimbursement from SAFC. Well if you want to observe the rules so closely, perhaps you should pay more attention to the bit that says fans may stand 'at moments of intense excitement', which covers the goalmouth action you described above. I never bitched about tall men standing around me when I was young. Why on earth not?
What a pile of ****e...I back my team vocally all game, and if you asked anyone who sits near me that you can't sing/shout loudly from a seated position and they would laugh at you.... As for a standing section, I would have no problem with that if it was done properly, but until then I will back the club on this issue..
Of course you can shout loudly, but it's still unnatural. Whenever people are entertained/excited enough to raise their voices in life, be it at a concert or a sports match or a protest or a campaign speech, they stand up to do so. Enforced sitting is part of the domestication/sanitization of football fans. You can't bounce up and down when you're sitting, you can't stick your hands in the air when you sing, you can't open up your body like when you're stood up, and you can't belt out your club's anthems properly when your lungs are hunched downwards. Even when their entire position is based on a report which is now thoroughly discredited due to the corruption and lies it quotes as its fundamental substance? Glad you want an end to the one-size-fits-all policy of enforced sitting, but being the bitches of the club security officials in the mean time undermines the struggle for standing areas, because if everyone seems to be sitting happily, the clubs will simply say that there's no need for it to happen.
I stood at Roker Park for years mate, and believe me towards the end of its existence the atmosphere from the standing areas was generally a pile of ****e unless it was a big game..
EG- how about we ignore all the rules and do whatever the hell we feel like. That can't go wrong now can it?
Where wasn't heading that way after the buzzkill of the mid-90s though? I don't think that replacing a fraction of each ground's seats with a standing area would bring back the famous atmospheres of old, but it would be the first step towards getting the sort of noise they still generate in continental Europe and South America, because it would mean the song-smiths and fanatics of the new generation would congregate in one area. Then perhaps they would unwittingly form the first widespread organized supporters groups in England along the lines of the 'ultras' abroad, who collectively campaign for their clubs to keep ticket prices low, run the clubs sustainably and bond with the players to make sure they give their all for the club. The supporters trust movement already provides a good model for that end. As long as all-seaters remain, so will the boredom and suppression. If Roker Park had been all-seater towards the end, I'll bet you even the big games would have seemed relatively worse.
Exactly mate...And singing '**** off you stewards, we'll stand if we want' is not using common sense.
Generally people stand when there is goal mouth action and everyone accepts it...to stand for the whole match where others are sitting is selfish...end of. Maybe there is a case for safe standing areas but to be honest that is irrelevant. I do not believe these people were banned because they stood up...they were banned because they stopped others seeing the match by standing in front of them and because they would not listen to reason. 38 people out 40,000 suggests its a few arseholes that are the problem
I completely agree. The stewards should start dragging these few arseholes out of the ground one at a time. In fact, I would happily provide assistance. Whilst on the subject I had the grandbairns at the pantomime last week. Anyone who tells you that you can't generate noise, passion and an atmosphere while seated are off their heads. Oh yes they are!
