Government urged to reconsider rejection of safe standing by MPs as petition reaches 70,000

The issue of standing at football is rife and after rejecting an application from a Premier League club to allow safe standing and now ministers have now been told football grounds should be permitted to allow fans to stand during matches

Labour MP Alex Norris (Nottingham North) urged the government to look at the reintroduction of standing at the top tier of English football, after sports minister Tracey Crouch rejected West Brom’s request to trial safe standing.

Speaking in the Commons on Thursday he said: “Every weekend hundreds of thousands of men, women and children make their weekly pilgrimage to watch their football team.

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“In the top two tiers of English football they can only do so sat down, this is unsafe as it’s not universally observed and it’s bad for the atmosphere.

“It’s time to permit safe standing, as they do in Scotland and other parts of Europe. Can we have a debate in government time on this matter?”

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom responded: “He will be aware that there are arguments for and against standing and sitting in football stadiums and we have our own horrendous examples of unfortunate and appalling circumstances in standing.

“I’m quite sure he will appreciate it’s not an easy issue for deciding one way or the other but I do encourage him to take this up directly with DCMS and see what progress they’re making on it.”

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Football is set to discuss the issue on May 1st.

The legislation forbidding standing at football matches in the English top flight was introduced following the Taylor Report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

After claiming they had polled fans up and down the country regarding safe standing the Premier League backed the government’s rejection of the idea, saying “This subject is complex and nuanced and clearly requires more research” and claiming “only 5% of fans want to stand for an entire match”.

That seems in contrast to an online petition to allow Premier League and Championship football clubs to introduce safe standing, which by Thursday had garnered more than 70,000 signatures from supporters. When it reaches 100,000 the government will be obliged to respond.

West Brom’s plan was to install 3,600 rail-seats in the Smethwick End, similar to Celtic who did the same in the summer of 2016 to huge success.

Manager Brendan Rodgers backed safe-standing, saying recently: “I can only speak highly of it. Having been up here nearly two seasons and seeing the impact it has – the guys in that create an incredible atmosphere.

“Certainly for Celtic, does it help to create a better ambience? 100% yes.

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has also backed safe standing, saying: “I’m in favour. I think the atmosphere is much better when people stand.

“The closer you are to the position of a player, the more supportive you are; imagine you’re lying in bed watching a game, you could fall asleep so it’s better you stand up.

“I think it’s a tradition of English football to have that. Overall, I must say, it’s much better.

“There’s safety reasons why they don’t [introduce it] and I can understand that, but if the safety is right then I 100 per cent back it.”