Can standing be reintroduced at Premier and Championship grounds?

Following the Hillsborough Disaster, the government accepted the recommendation of Lord Justice’s Taylor’s inquiry that grounds in the top two divisions should become all-seated. 

The Inquiry’s conclusion that, while “there is no panacea which will achieve total safety and cure all problems of behaviour and crowd control, seating does more to achieve these objectives than any other single measure”, has been proved to be correct.

It is generally accepted that Premiership and Football League grounds are safer, more comfortable and more civilised that they were fifteen or twenty years ago, though the FLA recognises that not all the changes have found favour with all spectators.

The injury statistics that we have collected and published for the past few seasons suggest that a spectator is less likely to be injured at an all-seated ground than at one that retains standing accommodation.  We recognise, however, that for a variety of reasons the statistics do not provide a wholly reliable indicator of the relative injury rates in seated and standing accommodation. 

While standing accommodation is now undoubtedly much safer than during the 1990s, we remain convinced on the basis of our observations and of anecdotal evidence that standing still presents a greater risk of injury than sitting.

There are, moreover, a significant number of practical reasons against reintroducing standing terraces at our all-seated grounds.  The conversion of all or part of a seating deck to standing accommodation would raise all sorts of complicated design and engineering issues relating to the gradient, the row depth, the viewing standards, the dynamic movement of the deck and the dynamics of the crowd. 

As a generality, it would require more space (hence a lower capacity) and spectators would have to be further away from the pitch to obtain an adequate view.  It could also constrain the size and design of any concourses.

Moreover, standing accommodation may not be used for any international, Champions League or Europa League match.  So for example, during the 2006 World Cup all the stadia in Germany were required to be all seated.

The Minister for Sport has stated publicly that the government will not abandon its all-seater policy unless compelling evidence is produced that it is no longer necessary.  Although the matter has been reviewed from time to time, he does not consider that such a case has been made.  Indeed, no new arguments have been advanced in support of a return to standing for many years.  In this context it should be noted that the case for seating does not rest purely on statistics of past injuries.