Half of the Football League’s clubs back standing

Half of the Football League’s 72 clubs now back the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign or have standing areas themselves. Last Friday Shrewsbury Town became the 21st club (and 18th Football League club) to officially back the Safe Standing Campaign while another 18 clubs have standing areas.

Clubs who support standing:

View Clubs backing the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign in a larger map

• GREEN PINS: Clubs who formally back the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign – Aldershot Town, Aston Villa, Brentford, Bristol City, Burnley, Cardiff City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Doncaster Rovers, Exeter City, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Peterborough United, Plymouth Argyle, Shrewsbury Town, Sunderland, Swansea City, Swindon Town, Watford, AFC Wimbledon, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
• BLUE PINS: Clubs who currently have standing areas – Accrington Stanley, Barnet, Bristol Rovers, Burton Albion, Carlisle United, Cheltenham Town, Crawley Town, Dagenham and Redbridge, Fleetwood Town, Hartlepool United, Morecambe, Rochdale, Scunthorpe United, Stevenage, Torquay United, Yeovil Town, York City, Wycombe Wanderers.
• YELLOW PINS: Clubs who play in the Scottish Premier League. The SPL has formally announced its support for safe standing.

The ever-growing list of clubs who back the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign shows that there is a genuine appetite within the industry for both seated and standing accommodation. Survey after survey shows that the overwhelming majority of supporters back the choice to sit or stand. You can see a full run down of national polls and surveys here.

It’s not just clubs and fans who back safe standing – so too do many architects and safety experts including Wembley and Soccer City architect John Barrow of Populous. “We as designers have no problem with standing at all…in terms of safety it can be done without any problems at all in small areas. It is great to have standing areas,” said Barrow.

Westminster is also beginning to wake up to the arguments and the FSF’s Parliamentary event in December 2012 showcased safe standing to MPs, journalists and other football industry figures. The event was organised by the FSF with support from Roger Godsiff MP. Representatives from Aston Villa and Peterborough United said they would be happy for their clubs to trial safe standing areas.

In the past fortnight notable figures such as the Rt Hon David Davis MP and Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP have backed safe standing. Clarke said: ““I can see no reason why football clubs should not be allowed to introduce any form of accommodation which is compatible with modern safety standards.”

• It’s great news but the FSF also needs action from fans too. Words alone are not enough – please visit: www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/safestanding

Main image – Bob Symns (chief executive, Peterborough United – middle row, centre) and representatives of Peterborough City Council with Jon Darch (Safe Standing Roadshow) and Hannover 96 staff among rail seats in the AWD Arena (Germany).