Should standing areas be reintroduced into the PL's stadiums?

It isn’t an easy subject. It is, however, an important one, and perhaps the best place to start when it comes to the issue of safe standing is to look at the number of countries who have already had the debate and concluded that if it can change football for the better then there is nothing to be afraid of.

It is the creation of a safe-standing section that helps to explain why watching football at Celtic Park can have the same effect as standing next to the speakers at an Iron Maiden concert. Germany has led the way and, one by one, the other leagues are following behind. Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands all now operate safe standing. Australia is bringing it in. Various grounds in the United States have put it in place. Even Russia, a football environment that sometimes feels like stepping back into the 1980s, has gone for the modern option. CSKA Moscow have safe-standing areas, featuring rail seats, behind both goals in their new stadium, the Arena CSKA.

It is also apparent that the majority of Premier League clubs like the idea. Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Swansea City, Burnley, Hull City and Watford are all actively pushing for safe standing, and it is commonly known that many others think it is time the league’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, began exploratory talks with the government. Indeed, one of the people involved in the process estimates that if it went to a vote in the coming week all 20 clubs, bar Liverpool, would support a consultation process.

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It does, however, feel like more and more people are acknowledging it is time to have the debate and are coming round to the idea that safe standing means exactly what it says, and is arguably safer than the common practice of supporters standing in seated areas.

What it does not mean – and it is important to be clear on this – is a return to the vast terraces where crushes were once commonplace, injuries taken for granted and a sense of danger was never too far away. A safety barrier would be on each row, eradicating the threat of overcrowding or those old terrace-tumbles when in one sudden sway you could suddenly find yourself transported 20ft in any given direction. The rail seats are bolted upright. They can be turned down for European games, when Uefa insists on all-seated stadiums, but otherwise each spectator would be given a place to stand where their seat would usually be.

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The surprising thing, perhaps, is that the Premier League has never formally raised the issue when, behind the scenes, the relevant people are fully aware about the strength of support and the sports minister, Tracey Crouch, has stated the standing ban will be reassessed “once evidence from the Scottish experience is available”, the first time any government has committed to a review of the legislation.

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The Liverpool supporters’ union Spirit of Shankly is to consult the club’s fans and Hillsborough families over the possible introduction of standing sections at Premier League grounds.

LSU members were asked at last month’s AGM whether the organisation should adopt a position on rail seating, following discussions with fellow supporters, and 93% voted in favour, it was announced on Wednesday, while 4.7% were against and 2.3% abstained. The proposal was in response to growing debate, including at government level, over the introduction of safe standing areas in the top two tiers of English football, and Celtic’s decision to open a 2,975-capacity standing section this season.
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Scottish clubs are not bound by the all-seat regulations that were introduced into English football by Lord Justice Taylor’s report into the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed at an FA Cup semi-final in 1989. The prospect of standing returning to Premier League and Championship grounds in any form – it is allowed at League One and Two levels – remains a contentious and understandably emotive issue for those affected by Hillsborough, and opinion is divided.

The Hillsborough Family Support Group is strongly opposed while the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, in a statement on its Facebook page, said: “There has always been a variety of views amongst HJC members. We do however, support a full and objective debate on the issue with safety being paramount.”

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