Safe standing areas

100% in favour of safe standing. I’d suggest the currently unused section of the West Lower. Nowhere else in the Football League to sway teams get such an easy ride entering and exiting the pitch next to their own supporters. Safe standing in that area would at least add an element of hostility.

 

My issue with his half hearted measure is that whilst it reduces the issue of fans standing in front of those who wish to sit (it reduces it, it won't eliminate it) and it does create standing areas without the risk of back to front surges, it will also create highly dangerous rat runs around the stadium. What we saw at Wembley with millwall is only the top of the iceberg compared to what is to come. Absolutely nothing to stop hordes of fans charging around the stadium in their masses.
On top of that it will now be much harder to arrest individuals who cause trouble as they can just run away through the wider channels that previously would have slowed them down.

Then there's the significant cost involved which simply has to be passed on to those wanting these special seats. Ive seen many people claim that standing will mean cheaper tickets but how can something with a huge cost mean a cheaper ticket?

And lastly my other issue is that despite the vast majority of clubs never having any need to convert them from standing to seating they are still pressing ahead with a solution that doesn't fully suit either setups and instead is a compromise between the two. A standing rail but with a hugely expensive seat attached which except for 5 or 6 English clubs are not required.

There should be two designs implemented. One with seats for the few clubs who need to satisfy international rules and one which doesn't have seats and is therefore much much cheaper for everyone else. The seats have to be locked in the upright position during standing games anyway so why not remove them? Would Barnsley need to worry about fulfilling champions league criteria? No

Remove the seats and you can reduce the space required front to back too which would actually generate more atmosphere while making it more viable by increasing capacity safely. Arm rests or to put it more honestly dividers between each 'space' should also be used to ensure that people can't just run through them and that people aren't u safely crowding into one small area of a row.


I'm all for safe standing if it is indeed safe but I don't think this current design actually fulfills The criteria it NEEDS to. It may have worked at a handful of grounds but terracing worked as well most of the time. Cladding on tower blocks hasn't killed people most of the time either. Is most of the time enough?

 

People standing in seating areas is annoying not unsafe. The picture you have painted simply doesn't happen *picture, paint, Brush...unintentional pun*. I wouldn't mind a standing area for those who want to do so, but it won't eliminate standing in seated areas. The nature of football crowds is that they'll stand up when something is about to happen and jump about when there's a goal.

 

Union Berlin ...22000 stadium .....4000 seats. all the rest (3 sides) normal terracing...non of this Safe Standing. Wanting to extend the stadium to 38000 with 8000 seats to satisfy the DFL. Quite simply they divide up the standing areas and whatever ticket you have you stand in that section....all stewarded no problems.

You can eat and drink watching the game yet still no problem.

It is like this in nearly every stadium in Germany.....what is the difference ?

It is the same for Rugby in football stadiums.....what is the difference ?

When Hillsborough happened the powers that be saw it as an opportunity to quash the working class yobbos that went to football by making them the culprits. It has been proved since that this was bullsh1t. But they got their way and many working class fans can now no longer afford to attend,

They have turned fan against fan at the same time as gentrifying the game to where it becomes a status symbol to go.

I have been to less games in England in the last 20 years than I have in Germany in the last 3 years. I have trouble getting tickets as the missus is in a wheelchair but we still manage. We recently paid 5 euros to see the Nuremberg / Fortuna Dusseldorf game as a 2nd division title decider (Fortuna won with a last minute goal ) Their season ticket price for the wheelchair section is 192 euro compared to £390 for 3rd division at home.The standing section at Dusseldorf is the cheapest (13 euro)


Prices for the best seats are more expensive than ours but you have a choice.

Teams like Dortmund have safe standing as it's easier to convert for European matches.They don't sell it on a seat to seat basis though as the capacity for those matches drop from 81360 to 65829 all seated. Only 1 permanent all seated stadium in German football is the Olympic stadium in Berlin...the home of Hertha who play in blue and white stripes

Football fans in this country are treated like criminals who are proven guilty and never innocent.

 

That's because a lot of football fans ARE yobs and hooligans

 

Mainly because they are treated like it. Always some dickheads but not everyone. Why do all fans have to be tarred with the same brush ?

Why are the same people ok at rugby games ?

 

1. Its not the same people.
2. People don't smash seats up, riot, drink and cause fights whilst shouting racist abuse because they 'are treated like it'. They do it because that is the kind of horrible person they are.
3. Sadly where there is risk you have to manage that risk by ha i g procedures in place to cater for the worst not the best. People are treated the same based on risk throughout life throughout the world. If not people would be able to decide for themselves when they are ready to get behind the wheel and head for the motorways.
4. Rather than being angry at everyone else why not direct your anger at those who cause all these measures in the first place? At the hooligans

 

Germany have their fair share of hooligans, it just seams better policed at the grounds and in the city centres. I've seen plenty of videos of 20v20 fan fights etc and heard stories of tear gas at Cologne v Dusseldorf .My main thought though (and from experience ) is treat people in the correct manner and they will act in the same way.

 

Sadly thats just not true. Unless you attend games with your eyes closed you simply must have witnessed people acting like dicks without anyone treating them badly

 

Like I said...always some but why should they spoil it for the rest....that way the kn0bs win. Do these people not exist at rugby/cricket/horse racing ? It has just been highlighted more at football because it has suited a political agenda.

 

Also. does it make someone less of a kn0bhead if they are sat down ?There is enough security and cctv at games today (and everyday life) to pinpoint any trouble causers that the need for seat numbers to catch culprits is not needed.

 

They wouldn't choose that corner as it's too near the away fans. It would be an obvious flashpoint. They'd make sure there was maximum distance in the ground between any standing area and away fans. It's no coincidence that that area is empty now and that the areas of the North and East Stands closest to each other are kept clear of fans as much as possible.

 

I see. We'd only find that out by trying it.

 

Here's how;

 

Celtic averaged almost 60k last season, and they're a noisy lot because they score loads and win the majority of their games. I don't think they're an ideal example to compare with.