The Safe Standing Campaign

[biscuitman]

[quote]EDMs are the biggest waste of time since the Earth came into being. They waste Parliamentary time, and force MPs to make useless gestures about things that will never get debated. I am strongly against MPs signing ANY EDMs, and am disappointed that my MP has signed this one.[quote]

Earth is waste of time??

The fact is standing at football has been brought to the attention to Parliament and to MP's, support is growing.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Has Martin Salter expressed an opinion on this?

Not yet. However. Martin Salter will be the guest on the Reading 107 phone-in from 6.15 pm tomorrow (Friday), during which time I will be asking him to give his support and/or express his opinion on this.

I'm surprised its taken him this long - he's not normally this tardy when it comes to voicing his opinion

[shadesrwrf]

Has Martin Salter expressed an opinion on this?

Not yet. However. Martin Salter will be the guest on the Reading 107 phone-in from 6.15 pm tomorrow (Friday), during which time I will be asking him to give his support and/or express his opinion on this.

I'm surprised its taken him this long - he's not normally this tardy when it comes to voicing his opinion

The thing with Martin is, he shys away from the limelight. He tends to work tirelessly in the background, shunning gratuitous publicity stunts.

[Andy M]

Agreed, but whilst standing is illegal no clubs, Chairmen, police chiefs or ground safety officers will break ranks, for obvious reasons. Many have privately expressed support, because everyone seems to realise that the current conflict between crowds and ground authorities cannot go on.

Standing is not illegal, it is against ground regulations. If it were illegal, then fans would get arrested by the police and not threatened with ejection by stewards.

Several club chairmen have publically expressed their support for safe standing, Charlton and Crystal Palace being among them. Many other clubs have strongly hinted at their support for safe standing if not come right out with it.

Many within the game from club chairmen to police on the match days have privately expressed their report for SUSD and have gone as far as to say that they don't see standing in seated areas as a safety issue but tell us (Stand Up Sit Down) that they won't speak publically because it isn't worth the grief. Indeed, one CCC club chairmen who spoke at a fans forum and urged his supporters to back our campaign was "told off" by safety bodies for doing so.

Finally, if STAR would care to pay a visit to the FLA website they'll see from their board meeting minutes minutes that they are of the opinion that many club chairmen don't see standing as a problem, hence them having to get more support from the DCMS to ensure their quest to ensure ground regulations are enforced and taken seriously. It would appear the credibility of the FLA within the game isn't exactly high!

On the same FLA website there is a quote from the Chairmen of the Premier League who states that he does not think the FLA are effective or that their measures work and that he doesn't see some standing as a problem.

I hope the above is helpful...

[Gregster]

How can you answer "there are too many variables to be sure" when responding to a question specific to the Mad Stad, yet are able to state "90%+" for away grounds. I don't understand. Perhaps you are including the away matches statistic because hand on heart, you feel that standing at the Mad Stad is highly unlikely.

I can answer that way because there currently are significant unknowns about the future configuration of the MadStad and the timescales for this.

If the MadStad stays unchanged then it is highly unlikely that standing will be permitted, but the MadStad can't stay unchanged - quite apart from the expansion plans (timescale's a big unknown) there has to be changes made to the current disables areas, which are not fit for purpose as currently designed and leave RFC potentially open to litigation. So changes have to be made at the MadStad - the variables are when these changes are made, whether they are made before or after changes to safe standing legislation (and indeed if there are such changes) and whether they are combined or not. There is a potential opportunity for this to happen, but I'm not able to give an estimate of the actual chance with any confidence.

My question is specific to the Mad Stad. You're a representative of the Supporter's Trust At Reading first and foremost. I expect you to represent the interests of RFC supporters and RFC before commiting resources to fighting another organisation's lost cause.

Surely it's only a lost cause if people believe it is so and make no effort to do anything about it?

Amongst STAR's policies, decided by the Board of STAR which was elected by its members, is to support the FSF's "Safe standing" campaign which is what I am doing by asking members to contact their MPs. As a leading member of the FSF, helping make their policies, we also don't consider that this is "someone else's campaign."

Everyone has the right to do so if they wish, equally they have the right to ignore this or to debate the issues as we're currently doing. In the same way, I have the right to decide how I allocate my "leisure time." And I use the word leisure in it's loosest sense...

Does STAR have the backing of the club in this matter?

No idea. Do we need it? Is it relevant?

Great post. I'm in support of this and this post alone shows a mature and open approach to tabling these discussions. Best of luck.

To answer the above, no, as football supporters, we don't need the backing of the club to begin discussions on introducing standing areas in football grounds - the campaign is for the football leagues not RFC.

Those conversations would come later once legislation is changed.

[Dirk Gently]

Just for people' information, this an example, frm germany, of what a sfae standing area might acrtually look like.



When it's designated as a seated area the bars are removed and the seats fold down.

[notloyalenuffroyal]

Can someone please give me a link to somewhere so I can see why people want to stand in a football ground.

We all clamour for a seat on the bus or train so why is everyone desperate to stand up for 2 hours for football?

I am not knocking the motion - I am not currently against the idea - I would just like an explanation of why it is nice to stand up for 2 hours and then I can join the debate!

[soggy biscuit]

[Skin]

Just for people' information, this an example, frm germany, of what a sfae standing area might acrtually look like.



When it's designated as a seated area the bars are removed and the seats fold down.

Too much common sense here.

[shadesrwrf]

We all clamour for a seat on the bus or train so why is everyone desperate to stand up for 2 hours for football?

I really miss the old days when you could get on a bus and watch 22 men play a game of football for ninety minutes.

[Forbury Lion]

The campaign will never carry any serious weight until the day a football club decides they want a standing area and are prepared to publicly petition for such facilities.

[Jerry St Clair]

Can someone please give me a link to somewhere so I can see why people want to stand in a football ground.

Why do you need a link?

Won't my opinion do?

[The 17 Bus]

you look good with a pinny on.

[Forbury Lion]

Can someone please give me a link to somewhere so I can see why people want to stand in a football ground.

Take your pick

http://www.ive-got-piles.com
http://www.ring-of-fire.net
http://www.one-up-the-bum-some-harm-done.co.uk

[Skin]

Can someone please give me a link to somewhere so I can see why people want to stand in a football ground.

Take your pick

http://www.ive-got-piles.com
http://www.ring-of-fire.net
http://www.one-up-the-bum-some-harm-done.co.uk

Is Brighton wholly representative of the whole country though?

[Jerry St Clair]

Yes, it's bigger than London, don't you know?

[cheeryoleary]

Has Martin Salter expressed an opinion on this?

Not yet. However. Martin Salter will be the guest on the Reading 107 phone-in from 6.15 pm tomorrow (Friday), during which time I will be asking him to give his support and/or express his opinion on this.

What did he say? Pro or anti-standing for football mathces at Reading?

[RIP ELM Park]

Has Martin Salter expressed an opinion on this?

Not yet. However. Martin Salter will be the guest on the Reading 107 phone-in from 6.15 pm tomorrow (Friday), during which time I will be asking him to give his support and/or express his opinion on this.

What did he say? Pro or anti-standing for football mathces at Reading?

Well he hasn't signed the EDM so I guess that gives a good idea of his position.

[Skin]

Just for people' information, this an example, frm germany, of what a sfae standing area might acrtually look like.



When it's designated as a seated area the bars are removed and the seats fold down.

Can someone pass this picture onto the club and ask them whether they would ever consider embracing an idea like this?
I think a view from the club would be extremely informative and I think too many people have a perception that all standing means is terracng and no seats, this German version would be a great middle ground.

[cheeryoleary]

this German version would be a great middle ground.

I have in my hand a piece of paper, signed by Mr. Madejski, in which he assures us that there will be standing in Europe.