Stand Up Sit Down
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Stand Up Sit Down is a United Kingdom campaign group which opposes the introduction of all-seater stadia for football matches. Standing areas in UK football stadiums were made illegal on the recommendation of the 1990 Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster, a tragedy that happened in 1989, when a total of 96 people were killed, or died from injuries, caused by crushing at Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield.
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[edit] Aims
Stand Up Sit Down says its aims are:- '
- "to work with football supporters, clubs and safety authorities, to achieve a common sense solution to the issue of standing, for the benefit of all concerned. To campaign for decisions related to standing to be made in partnership with supporters, and to be based on objective safety assessments, but whilst maintaining a balance between safety and individual freedom.
- To agree areas where standing can be permitted without significant safety risks, and wherever possible to provide supporters with a choice whether they may stand or sit.
- To seek agreement that passive standing in front of allocated seats will be accepted in designated areas, for at least for trial period, subject to supporters adhering to a code of conduct.
- To ensure that those supporters who do not want to stand, will be able to sit in designated areas, in the knowledge that their view will not be blocked by other spectators persistently standing." [1]
[edit] Background and History
Since the advent of all seated stadia, following the Taylor Report, supporters at most clubs have continued to stand for all of, or parts of matches, despite regulations against such incidents. The number of supporters who stand, varies according to the club and the fixture, from a handful of people to virtually the whole crowd, for example in derby matches. The proportion generally tends to be higher amongst clubs regarded as having more passionate fans, and is often proportionally high amongst away supporters.
Standing in seated areas is contrary to the ground regulations which clubs are required to impose by League authorities, and the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) and some Local Authorities try to prevent persistent standing. The issue of standing can cause cause conflict with stewards, and discontent among supporters. According to some people, standing also has health, safety and customer care implications. Regardless of their preference to sit or stand, some supporters are unhappy with the current situation.
Since its inception in July 2004, Stand Up Sit Down (SUSD) membership has grown to over 5000 members, covering every club in England, Wales and Scotland. Its membership age ranges from 11 to 70 and is composed of people who not only want to stand, but also those who want to sit, but support freedom of choice. The online petition on the website has also been signed by over 11 000 people.
[edit] Safety
The main reason authorities claim that they do not allow supporters to stand is because they believe it poses a safety risk. Stand Up Sit Down, however, argue that their proposals would be safer than the current system.
It is widely recognised that there is some risk from standing in modern stadiums, since these have been designed for all-seating crowds. Depending on the design and in particular gradient of a stand, supporters can be stood (or sat) close to a step, below which is the next row of seats. Some gradients are high enough to give a single-step drop in excess of one-and-a-half feet (18 inches, or about 45cm). The gradient in stadiums that were built before the release of the Taylor Report have a gradient which is greater in steep upper tiers than in shallow single or lower tiers, originally built and designed for standing supporters.
Currently supporters stand in all areas of the stadium, regardless of the gradient or tier and the risk that this may cause. Away supporters generally have no choice as to which area of the ground they occupy, and are regularly allocated an upper tier area. Despite this,away fans will often stand regardless of the possible risk.
SUSD claim that their proposals would allocate the most suitable area or areas of each ground for standing. These would be lower or single tiers, therefore moving spectators who may stand from other more hazardous areas. They further claim that this would mean that the safety risk could be reduced.
Whilst covering a wide age range and both sexes, those supporters who wish to stand are often regarded as the more vocal and passionate fans. Consequently they are generally inclined to be more exuberant in their goal celebrations and therefore at greatest risk of falling. By putting these supporters in the least steep areas and not upper tiers, SUSD claim that these fans would be at a lower risk of falls, injuries and a possible domino effect (where a fan further up a gradient would fall on a fan seated lower down, causing that fan to also fall forwards onto a lower row of seating, etc.). SUSD’s proposals would therefore (they claim) improve safety at moments of excitement.
It is reported that the FLA considers that supporters are at greater risk of injury if they start a goal celebration from a standing rather than seated position. One of the reasons they give for this is that supporters sit with their feet flat on the ground, and are less likely to fall and start a cascade effect than if they jump up from standing. However, it is generally recognised that many supporters rise in the build up to a goal, so are already standing by the time a goal is scored. Indeed fans can be stood for several minutes in the build up, in such incidents as a penalty or a free-kick. Fans from both teams often stand throughout an entire penalty shoot-out
SUSD supporters make the point that jumping from their seat can cause collisions with either seats or other supporters. Indeed many supporters have commented that they had received minor injuries as a result of such collisions. SUSD claim that their proposals would improve safety because those supporters likely to celebrate goals in the most active manner, would already be standing, and so are less likely to be injured from collisions with seating. Supporters would still likely bump into each other, however.
Under the SUSD proposals, the provision of a standing area would be dependent on supporters complying with a Code of Conduct covering matters such as keeping exit routs clear, standing only in front of allocated seats, and maintaining generally acceptable behaviour. They claim that standing supporters would know that failure to comply with these rules would result in the loss of the right to stand, and they believe that this would result in a degree of self regulation that would have benefits for both safety and behaviour. This is a highly conjective claim, however, and assumes good-faith on the part of those supporters who are standing.
[edit] Customer care and crowd control
There is an argument that allowing supporters to stand will lead to crowd trouble. However, as SUSD note, currently, every week thousands of supporters stand in front of their seats and generally this does not result in crowd disorder. Seats are currently allocated and, if necessary, individual supporters can easily be monitored by police or stewards as they stand in front of these.
In the 1970s and 1980's, incidents of hooliganism in football, especially in England, were prevalent. However, following concerted effots by footballing authorities, police, fan and supporter groups and the football clubs themselves, a change in the culture of football supporters started prior to all seater stadia, and such incidents are now much more rare. SUSD also claim that permitting standing in designated areas would remove conflict between supporters and stewards, and in doing so improve the relationship between them. Currently stewards are asked to request that supporters sit down during matches, and have the authority to request police assistance to remove fans who continue to stand from the ground. This has caused some stewards to be targeted for verbal (and occasionally physical) abuse from supporters, as they are seen to have a level of authority which they may abuse (often this is untrue). SUSD claim that allowing fans to stand would eradicate this issue.
SUSD accept that it is reasonable for a spectator to expect that they will be able to see the game whilst sitting in the seat that they have paid for and not have their view blocked by others standing in front. People who want to sit, supporters of small stature, children, and those who for whatever reason are unable to stand for long periods should not (they say) have their enjoyment spoiled by others standing.
SUSD say that those who are unable or prefer not to stand, should not have their view blocked by others. However (they say) rather than this being a justification for making all supporters sit, this is "a major reason for providing separate areas for everyone to watch the game as they wish. Similarly, unless there are valid safety reasons, those who prefer to stand should be allowed to do so."
[edit] Finance
SUSD recognise that "in modern football finance is very relevant and the cost implications of the current situation and proposed solution should be considered." It is known that many supporters have stopped attending matches because of the perceived reduced atmosphere caused by all seated stadia, where crowd noise has reduced considerably. Other supporters have claimed that they no longer go to matches because they want to stand, and in some cases they have been banned for persistent standing. SUSD claim that allowing standing areas would increase match attendance, and thereby increase the financial situation of clubs. Many clubs, especially those in the lower echelons of British football are struggling for financial stability and these proposals would (they claim) assist those clubs whose attendances and finances are poor.
[edit] Fans Opinions
According to SUSD, in 2007 the Football Fans Census ran a survey to find fans views on the matter of standing up at football matches[citation needed], the results they found were:
In terms of choice a resounding 92% of respondents felt fans should be given the freedom to choose whether they stand in safe-standing areas. Of the respondents 25% felt safe-standing areas should be mandatory. With regard to who has the power to decide, 71% of fans said it should be decentralised and left to the clubs or local authorities with only 10% feeling that the decision should rest with the Government - as is currently the case.
In terms of the match-day experience, 45% would buy a safe-standing ticket all the time if going to a match. More than half of the respondents said the introduction of these areas wouldn't affect crowd trouble or spectator safety. A large majority (81%) felt the existence of safe-standing areas would make their overall match-day experience more enjoyable. Only 1% of fans would go to fewer matches if safe-standing areas were introduced. Many fans considered standing to be a big part of football culture.
Another point in favour of standing areas in stadia is that other sports do not require all-seater stadia. Rugby League, for example has many teams - even in the engage Super League (the top flight of British Rugby League) that have little, if any, seating stands. Clubs such as St. Helens and the Salford City Reds have large standing-only areas in their stadia. It should be noted, however, that Salfords' new proposed stadium, the City of Salford Stadium, will likely not have standing areas.
A point which SUSD rarely give mention to is that many clubs have built new stadia since the Taylor Report. Clubs such as Manchester City, Southampton and Middlesbrough have moved into newly built stadia. Since these stadia had to be all-seater, there seemed little point in making shallow gradients in stands. Should standing areas be introduced into stadia again, these stadia would have the problem that standing supporters would be stood on steep gradients, or would require re-building part of the stadia themselves to lower the gradients. This would of course not be much of a problem for clubs in the Premier League[citation needed], with the vast amounts of money now flooding in to the top division.
In addition, when standing areas were allowed, supporters from opposing clubs would often find themselves stood together. This was originally deemed acceptable, as supporters would generally have a good rapport with each other. However, a greater rivalry between teams has developed over the last 20 years or so, probably aided by the required segregation of supporters from opposing sides in all-seater stadia. Bringing in the SUSD proposals would therefore require two separate areas for standing, one for home and one for away supporters.
The slogan often gets promoted at football matches with fans singing "Stand Up, Sit Down" while standing up and sitting down
