Call for terraces doesn’t stand up

Mar 21 2007 Red Watch by Andy Proudfoot, Liverpool Daily Post

ONCE again it would appear that standing areas at football stadiums are back on the agenda.

It seems that, whenever there’s no WAG to provide titillating copy or Jose Mourinho is not ranting about some perceived slight by the FA or referees, then some bright spark starts or digs up a fans survey to show that the vast majority of us would much rather stand up to watch our football than have our backsides cosseted in a comfortable seat that saps all inclination to enjoy ourselves and paralyses our vocal chords such that it is impossible to raise more than an appreciative whimper at the fabulous fare placed before us.

Of course, our noble politicians can sniff a vote-winner when they see one, and every such survey is accompanied by so many MPs jumping on the bandwagon that its axles buckle with the weight of enthusiastic support. This in itself of course should raise our suspicions.

The argument, so it goes, is that our football grounds can be revitalised into seething cauldrons of emotion, and that the ordinary working man can be enticed back to football, by the introduction of ‘safe’ standing areas in which the atmosphere at mediocre games will immediately be transformed as fans find their voices as well as their feet.

This spurious argument needs to be exploded once and for all. First and foremost, there is no such thing as ‘safe’ standing. From the initial mounds of earth and cinders that constituted the ‘stands’ from which the early spectator watched his football, through the introduction of stepped terraces, the installation of crash barriers, and the reduction of capacities, I can guarantee that each was heralded by the stadium owners as representing new standards of spectator comfort and safety.

That is until something unexpected happens, something unforeseen, which shows how ridiculous those assertions were. The scenes at Lens the other week were a chilling reminder of what can happen when significant numbers of people move around in a confined space, and that catastrophe is only a poor policing decision away.

This, by the way, is why players are booked when they run into the crowd: not because the authorities are killjoys determined to stamp enjoyment out of the game, as the TV pundits would have us believe, but to prevent dangerous crowd surges as fans pile forward to embrace their heroes.

The atmosphere-dampening impact of seats is also over-estimated. Those standing on the Kop were not the only source of energy against Barcelona or at any of the other great European nights seen at Anfield in the last few seasons; the whole ground contributed, the vast majority unbelievably from a seated position.

Of course there’s a natural tendency to stand up at moments of excitement, but that doesn’t imply that standing up automatically encourages greater noise and enjoyment – there needs to be some stimulus on the pitch to provide that.

But the overwhelming reason for not supporting the return of standing enclosures must be one of safety. I for one have no wish to return to the so-called golden days of large terraces, when the cattle-pen nature of these structures encouraged the authorities to view their occupants as so much livestock to be herded before, during and after games; and I’ve seen more than enough tragedy at football matches to deter me from supporting anything which might increase risk to life and limb.

The next time you’re tempted to vote for the return of terraces, just think back to the horror of the event which consigned them to history.