Liverpool fans could hold key to return of terraces
The campaign to bring back standing will go into overdrive if Anfield group lends its support, writes Jim White
or matchgoing fans who would like a bit of choice in how they view their football, the weekend just gone was a game-changer. On Saturday, the Spirit of Shankly, the main Liverpool supporters group, announced it was to poll its members on safe standing. Once a majority verdict has been reached, the organisation will either lend its backing to, or distance itself from, the Football Supporters’ Federation campaign to introduce safe standing to the Premier League and Championship.
Without the support of Liverpool followers, the campaign has long been stuck in the sidings. Never mind the evidence from Germany and Glasgow that safestanding areas live up to their name, nothing could properly progress if fans of the club were not behind the idea.
And rightly so. Ninety-six Liverpool supporters died at Hillsborough, in the
Fhellish crush that precipitated the move to ban standing. The opinions of those who lost loved ones in the 1989 disaster had to be central in any attempt to lobby for a return to standing.
For years, the families had been opposed. But last year’s coroner’s verdict, and the subsequent criminal charges, have changed perspectives. Now the truth they have known for years has become officially accepted, things are different. Over the weekend, Spirit of Shankly organised a meeting with the Hillsborough Families to test the mood before it even went ahead with its vote. And while some still remain hostile, a significant proportion have mellowed. Take
Sara Williams, who lost her brother Kevin.
“The rail seating already being used safely in Germany and elsewhere
At Celtic, the system has proved far safer than supporters standing in seated areas
is completely different from the caged pens of 1989,” she said at the meeting. “I’d be happy to take my kids in there, in fact they would love it.”
She is right. What was made clear at the Hillsborough inquest was that standing did not kill the 96. What killed them was misjudgments and incompetence by the police and football authorities. It was not the terraces themselves, it was the steel dividing pens preventing natural flow across the steps that was too blame.
At Celtic, in Germany, the system of rail seats, pinned back to allow standing in front of them, has proved demonstrably safe. Far safer, in fact, than people standing in seated areas, as occurs across the English game now. The system has proven that large numbers of people can gather together to watch football while standing without mayhem ensuing.
Should, when the vote is taken on July 30, the majority of Liverpool fans be of the same opinion as Sara Williams (and the suggestion is they will be), then the campaign for safe standing will go into overdrive. Fan groups at most Premier League clubs have been lobbying for it, arguing that there has been a dramatic improvement in matchday atmosphere at Celtic Park since 3,500 fans were allowed to stand together in a communal choir at the start of last season. The potential precedents are lining up: Shrewsbury Town have sought planning permission to introduce a safe-standing area into their new stadium.
Indeed, if Liverpool fans do back the idea and the campaign momentum becomes unstoppable, then it would suit every match-going fan. Because if safe-standing sections are introduced, they will absorb the majority of those who like to watch while vertical. Which will leave the rest of us able to enjoy the football from our seats, without our view obscured by others standing in front of us.