Football is all about opinions and not surprisingly everybody has one especially when the subject matter is about bringing back standing terracing to the top flight of English soccer. This debate is perhaps the most emotional issue within the game as no-one will ever forget the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives…the fight for justice for those that perished still rages today and rightly so.

Following Hillsborough, the English government was forced to look at football instead of ignoring the many problems that surrounded the game. At the recommendation of the Taylor Report, it was deemed that football in the top flight of England should be played in all-seater stadiums and that’s how it’s been since the formation of the Premiership.

A recent poll conducted by the Football Fans Census (FFC) found that 92% of fans want to bring back safe standing areas to their clubs while fans groups, the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) and Stand Up Sit Down (SUSD) are leading campaigns to reopen the case for standing however as far as the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) this issue is a non starter – all-seater stadium are here to stay as far as they’re concerned. I can easily appreciate both sides of the argument.

My first taste of football as a kid was on the terraces. Back in the late 70’s I’d meet up with my schoolmates and go to the likes of Highbury, White Hart Lane and Loftus Road. We’d get to the grounds nice and early, staking out a place behind a crash barrier near to the goal. As the pens would fill up especially for big matches, crushes would develop but I never felt scared, as I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere. Looking back now the lack of fear was probably because I was a teenager and like all teenagers thought I was indestructible. I was scared getting on the wrong tube carriage though on some Saturday afternoons in the capital!

Btw this experience was incredibly cheap…ticket, travel (tube), match program, pie and chips…and I’d still have change left out of $10 hence the fact that the average age of crowds in those days was mid 20’s instead of the 40’s that we see today as the cost of following top flight football has become exorbitant.

Having been lucky enough to cover World Cups and Euros from the press box where standing isn’t an option and atmosphere is non-existent, I must admit that occasionally I find myself reminiscing while watching fans singing and celebrating behind the goals (where terracing traditionally is located). It sure does look like a lot of fun but I think deep down, I know my days of bouncing up and down for ninety minutes are over.

Maybe that’s why whenever a colleague comes back from a match my first question is never about the quality of the contest but ‘what was the atmosphere like’ – and let’s be honest, without a decent atmosphere, you might as well be watching my over 30’s team down at the park. This has become an all too common complaint about Premiership matches over the past few seasons.

The EPL has priced out young supporters and not given them an outlet to support their local clubs. You can’t hang out with your mates if you’re all seating in a row and as for signing sitting down…forget about it - you’ve got to stand to belt it out.

However you do have to feel sympathy for the person sitting behind you who fancies a nice afternoon watching some top class football and not having to reposition themselves every 10 seconds to avoid a view of your or mine ample backside!

You know that takes me back to the Rose Bowl in ’94. I’d scored tickets for my first World Cup Final and in all the excitement had a few beers before kick-off. As ####, as the match was though (0-0) I was up and out of my seat for 90% of the time much to the annoyance of an American couple behind me. “Young man, do you mind not standing up, you’re spoiling our view” said this fellow who was obviously attending his first and last ever game. I was stunned that anyone could say that, I mean, c’mon this was the biggest game of football in four years and I let him know it. However 13 years on I’d like to apologize because he was right. We were in an all-seater stadium and he’d paid the same money as me to watch the same game.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is the fact that there wasn’t a choice and there isn’t one in the Premiership either. What clubs have to remember is that supporters are customers and they should have choices.

The terracing and policing that caused the Hillsborough disaster was a disgrace and hopefully we’ll never return to those unenlightened times but for the authorities to refuse to even open up the debate about a standing seems ignorant.

We’ve seen that standing areas work well in Germany and at least 10% of tickets on sale must be for standing areas which can then revert back to seating for European and International matches. The atmosphere at Bundesliga matches is also superb with a mixture of young and old packing out stadiums with average crowds of 45,000+ and it’s inexpensive.

With the advent of CCTV, better policing, a different attitude (less hooligans), I believe that standing should once again be allowed in the top flight of English football. The majority of fans also want it back because without full grounds and atmosphere football will slowly turn into a night at the opera…sit down and shut up…it really is about choice.


Until then, get the beers in.