Latest News

Every now and then an organisation needs to sit down and look at how it does things. Well, it’s that time for the FSF and our National Council has decided to call an EGM on Sunday 18th November 2012 at the National Football Centre, St George’s Park, Burton (2.30pm-4.30pm). Directions to St George’s Park here.

Every Friday for the past month we have been able to announce that at least one new club has announced its support for the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign. We’re very pleased to say that this Friday is no different and the latest club to back the call for safe standing trials are Doncaster Rovers. Welcome aboard.

Pre-match entertainment from Ecuador where this week’s top-flight clash between Barcelona Guayaquil and LDU Quito was interrupted by an out of control parachutist who got his angles all wrong. Better still, the incident is captured entirely from the point of view of the thrill-seeker in question, Jose Sislema Merello. Marvellous.

The Home Office’s arrest statistics for the 2011-12 season have been released today and they make for happy reading. The figures show a drop in total arrests of 24% and, on average, less than one arrest is made at every match. Three out of every four games feature no arrests at all.

The Three Lions have played Sweden an awful lot in the past couple of decades – Euro 92, the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, this year’s European Championship, and a whole host of qualifiers and friendlies. One of the most entertaining came in 1995’s Umbro Cup when Terry Venables’ England played in a Euro 96 warm up tournament against the Swedes.

Your famous Free Lions team will be out and about on the streets of Stockholm today and tomorrow doling out copies of your favourite fanzine. For an exclusive preview of Free Lions 126 including important ground rules and stadium information follow the link below. You’ll be pleased to hear that the powers-that-be have decided to close the roof for the game.

The FSF Fans’ Embassy in Stockholm will be based by the City Terminalen on Klarabergsgatan, near the central station, and will operate on the afternoon of Tuesday November 13th between 2pm and 5pm, and on match day from 10am till 5.00pm.

Supporters Direct Europe (SD Europe) last week launched its first position paper, The Heart of the Game: Why Supporters are Vital to Improving Governance in Football, at an event hosted by Ivo Belet MEP at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Last Thursday Newcastle United travelled to Belgium for their Europa League fixture against Club Bruges. An estimated 6000-7000 fans made the trip but the authorities missed a trick, and made supporters’ lives more difficult, by treating fans as a problem rather than a huge opportunity.

Burnley and Watford are the latest clubs to back the Football Supporters’ Federation’s Safe Standing Campaign – a big well done to the Clarets and the Hornets. The two clubs follow hot on the heels of Aston Villa, Brentford, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Hull City, Peterborough United, AFC Wimbledon and the Scottish Premier League.

Over to a chilly looking Russia where Scrabble-proof Zarya Krasnoznamensk’s first team played a training ground game against their youth side. Maxim Ivaschuk scores a cracking Scorpion Kick although it’s tough to take it too seriously since he appears to be wearing pyjamas. The less said about the very Russian soundtrack, the better.

A survey carried out by the Football Supporters’ Federation has shown that fans have a “relatively positive perception” of the police’s role in football. The FSF has also backed the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) “three pronged” policing strategy to tackle football-related disorder.

The Football Supporters’ Federation’s Safe Standing Campaign is back in the news thanks to a stream of clubs (see below) who have come out in support of the FSF’s plans and an MP’s Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament calling for safe standing trials to be allowed.

The FSF and our National Council have called an EGM on Sunday 18th November 2012 at the National Football Centre, St George’s Park, Burton (2.30pm-4.30pm).

Surrey County Cricket Club will restage the first FA Cup final between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers at the Oval, home of the competition’s inaugural final 140 years ago. The match will take place on Wednesday 7th November and money will be donated to the Haig Housing Trust, the Royal British Legion and other local football charities.

Goalkeeper scores late equaliser from corner is a perennial And Finally… favourite so we make no apologies for including this action from the Mexican Cup final on Wednesday. Dorados keeper Alfredo Frausto’s 91st minute volley is pretty nifty and took the game to extra time where they beat second division Correcaminos UAT on pens.

Crystal Palace are the latest club to back the Football Supporters’ Federation’s (FSF) Standing Campaign with co-chairman Steve Browett saying he “fully supports the introduction of a pilot scheme to test safe standing in our football stadiums.”

A major new campaign has been launched by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) in conjunction with Roger Godsiff MP and backed by a number of high profile football clubs including Aston Villa and Peterborough United. The campaign calls on the Government to allow small-scale trials of new safe standing areas in the Premier League and Championship.

And finally… is normally our space for own goals and comedy mishaps but today we thought we’d take a different tact. It’s an important time for the Safe Standing Campaign and we’re hosting a video which shows just how it works. They say a picture paints a thousand words and the video shows that safe standing does not mean a return to the dark days of the 80s with vast, crumbling terraces and lethal fences.

After a weekend in which football teams throughout England and Wales have demonstrated their support for the anti-racist cause, and when a number of players have expressed their frustration at how recent high-profile incidents have been handled, the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) re-affirms our commitment to campaigning to combat racism and all other forms of discrimination within football.