Is standing safe or not?
HEADS are covered at Smithfield market. Well, some of them. If you work there, or visit as a professional, strict hygiene laws are in place. It’s not considered clean to work with fresh produce and an exposed head of hair. Yet if you are a simple customer, out buying the Sunday roast, those rules do not apply. Yet you are around the same meat, your hair particles contain the same germs. It makes no sense. It’s either safe or it’s not. And it’s the same with standing at football matches. If they win promotion, Brentford are likely to ask for special provision to keep the terraces at Griffin Park for one year, before they move to their new stadium at Lionel Road. ‘We would hope the Premier League give us dispensation,’ said chief executive Mark Devlin. ‘The new stadium has been built to be fully Premier League compliant — but we are in a unique situation. We would hope for a sensible conversation.’ Yet either terracing is safe or it isn’t. It seems ridiculous it could be deemed safe for one season, but no more. An event can’t be a little bit safe, no more than hair can be a little bit hygienic. Having just lost manager Dean Smith to Aston Villa and lying outside the play-off places, this may become a moot point for Brentford anyway. But if it is judged safe to stand at Griffin Park, why isn’t it safe anywhere else? And if standing isn’t safe, why would it even be permitted for one match, let alone an entire season?