Kevin Whitcher
So, to cut to the quick, the Arsenal Supporters Trust have been working hard on supporters issues in recent years, and one of those is the safe standing campaign. The main purpose of this article is to invite supporters to express their opinions on the matter by completing a Safe Standing survey that the Trust have launched to get the views of Arsenal fans about the idea of introducing it to the Emirates. It takes about 2 minutes to complete, or longer if you wish to leave comments where invited.
Here is a brief summary of the AST meeting which includes links to pages with a video about what has happened at Celtic as well as some details about the Football Supporters Federation campaign.
On the latter, kudos to Jon Darch who has been at the forefront of this campaign for more years than I care to remember. I recall delivering and unloading the FSF’s safe standing demonstration unit to the Houses of Parliament for a meeting in a transit van a good few years back, at a time when the campaign had already been running for some time. Jon told me that in reality, before safe standing could happen, a couple of particular individual senior police figures would have to retire, as there was no way the police would approve a change in the law until they did. Not knowing which individuals these were, I can only hope that they are no longer a barrier to what seems to me a no brainer.
And this is why. Fans stand at Premier League football matches. In the away sections, and in particular areas of the home stands. There was a time when local safety representatives tried to stop this by reducing the number of seats made available in these areas to try and persuade supporters to sit down, and many will recall when Arsenal stewards attempted to get fans in the REDsection or Singing Section in blocks 5 and 6 to sit down, but that’s all gone quiet now. Standing is informally accepted in certain areas because of the sheer mass of fans doing it. So why not make it safe? Initially, the cost of admission is not an issue, because let’s face it, those who are standing are content to pay the same money as they would to sit down or they would not continue to attend.
I am aware that some fans rarely go to away matches because they are unable to stand up in a confined space for a long period of time. They accept the fact that fans are going to stand, so choose to preserve their health by watching away games on the box. One particular positive about the idea of safe standing for away sections is that it could mean that places are sold as either standing or sitting, as there are a good number of supporters that would prefer to sit at matches, but stand simply to be able to see the game.
So anyway, once we accept that people are going to stand at football matches – and in reality, the clubs have accepted this, as it’s happening every matchday – then let’s make it safe. If it’s going on, and allowed to go on, then its negligent to allow people to put themselves at physical risk when it is so easy to put in place physical changes to stadiums which will prevent people toppling over the row in front. People lose balance, especially during goal celebrations. I remember a friend going about three rows forward when Arsenal scored against Parma in Copenhagen – and that was a pretty steep stand. Many have been injured in this way.
So it’s a no brainer. If you are going to allow people to stand, then give them an environment in which they are less likely to get hurt. This is not about a return to the circumstances that created the Hillsborough tragedy. With safe standing, people would never be able to get crushed in the same way.
Anyway, that’s my opinion, now you can express yours by completing the survey. At present, it looks like Arsenal might be the last Premier League club to back the campaign.
Over 30 years ago, the club proudly stood firm against the introduction of fencing to pen in supporters. Now, what is the problem? Are they worried people might start campaigning for cheaper tickets to watch the football if they are standing or something? Time to think of people’s safety before profit for a change…
Once more, here’s a link to the AST survey.
