RUFC – Safe Standing – Would You Welcome It

Safe Standing on football terraces could be coming nearer as yesterday Shrewsbury Town were the first club in the English League to apply to have it.

What is ‘Safe Standing’

Until 1994 standing terraces were the norm for clubs in the Premier League and Championship, with it being only the ‘posh’ people actually sitting in seats. Because of the disaster at Hillsborough in 1989 and the Taylor Report the law was changed and most new build stadiums have been all seater with others converting to all seater. But not all – Morecambe’s Globe Arena, which was opened in 2010, for instance has standing for around 4,000 people.

So, what could be done to grounds who want Safe Standing?

Obviously ‘Safe’ is the word everyone will be looking at. Shrewsbury are going to convert four hundred seats in their home end to rail seating , which Celtic use at Parkhead, so, unlike the terraces of old that had wonky steps and the occasional barrier to lean against (like the Tivoli at Millmoor), everyone is allocated a ‘seat’ behind a barrier. This should stop the surging from the top of the stand where people used to fall down steps pushing others in their wake.

Shrewsbury told the BBC that they want to put in safe standing to improve the atmosphere at Greenhous Meadow. ‘The issue we tend to have is when we come up against the big clubs – the Sheffield United’s, the Boltons – who bring huge away crowds, we get drowned out a little bit,’ Mike Davis of the Supporters’ Parliament said.

Of course we know fans stand up anyway and so isn’t it better they stand in an area which is just for standing? An area when people who want to sit aren’t having to stand because of the people standing in front of them?

What would you think if Rotherham Chairman Tony Stewart announced that half of the ‘kop’ end at the New York Stadium was going to be converted to safe standing. Would you want this? Would you object?

Tell us here on Vital Rotherham