City’s position at the forefront of the nationwide debate about safe standing at football grounds will be further enhanced this week as club chairman Ed Balls stars in a Watchdog special tonight (BBC1 – 20:00) on the emotive issue.
The debate – already aired of late here on MyFootballWriter – can divide opinion and has caused much upset among the Lower Barclay faithful – likely to be one of the first ‘seating’ areas in the country to trial the new safer standing infrastructure on show in the BBC1 documentary.
To quote the BBC…
Watchdog Live”, Wednesday 23rd May 2018:
Ed Balls, former Labour MP and Chairman of Norwich City Football Club, joins the debate around safe standing in football on this week’s “Watchdog Live”.
A lifelong football fan, Ed tells the programme he recalls the atmosphere in the Norwich City ground when attending matches as a child.
In 1989 the Hillsborough disaster led to a change in the law. As a result of the tragedy – which led to the death of ninety-six football fans – new legislation banned standing areas in English and Welsh football grounds in the top two divisions.
In the “Watchdog Live” report, Ed Balls meets Jay McKenna, who chairs the Liverpool fan group “Spirit of Shankly”. In 2017 the group held a survey which showed that 88% of its members are now in favour of safe standing areas.
Jay tells the programme: “I think the size of the vote in favour was surprising.
Even within families there’s a conversation to be had. You know there’s a supporter I speak to whose dad died at Hillsborough. He’s in favour. But his dad’s mate who he went to the match with, who lived through that next to him, he’s undecided.
And there are opposing voices, let’s have a conversation about those.”
It is an issue that divides football supporters. In Scotland, Celtic installed a railed seating area in 2016 in which the seats can be folded and locked in place for safe standing.
In the programme, Ed Balls meets Amanda Jacks from the Football Supporters Federation, which has been campaigning in favour of safe standing for over 15 years. She shows him an example of rail seating and how it is intended to work, explaining “It’s locked in the upright position so supporters can stand in front of it.
“You have a rail here and a rail here, so you are protected from falling forward, and you are protected from someone behind you falling on top of you and it also gives you your personalised space.”
It’s a proposal that Ed believes makes sense. “To me, that feels safer than what we often see in grounds up and down the country, people not sitting but standing between or even on seats.”
“And while this is an issue which divides supporters, I think it’s the right time to at least ask the question of whether safe standing can be introduced.”
On the 25th June Parliament will debate the re-introduction of safe standing areas in football grounds following a petition that has reached over 100,000 signatures.
In the “Watchdog Live” report Ed Balls also speaks to Damian Collins, Conservative MP and Chair of the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport, who tells him:
“You’ve either got to have a system where you have safe standing with barriers, or you have proper stewarding of the grounds to stop people standing. At the moment, we’ve got the worst of all worlds which is unsafe standing in large areas of football grounds.
“Now is the time to have this debate and I think it’s rightly being led by voices within football calling for change.”
Lo and behold! A Tory MP with whom I agree.
It is indeed the worst of all worlds that we have at the moment.
Seconded.
I wouldn’t normally watch this programme but I sure will tonight. Maybe not the rogue traders section though.
Ed Balls represented Labour whilst an MP….. He is no longer an MP which is why he flits around pretending to be Football Club chairman
The only reason Ed Balls is in favour of safe standing is because Norwich City have failed abjectly and comprehensively to enforce the current regulations on standing in an all-seater stadium. If there is a area of safe standing introduced, the club will still be too terrified to enforce the no standing rules in other parts of the ground. As usual with a failed politician , he is taking the line of least resistance. A minority are breaking the rules and he, as a supposed leader in the club is too frightened to take the action needed to r enforce the current rules.
Football grounds and policing are completely different to 1989. Safe standing areas in Germany and at Celtic Park have been unqualified successes.
The discrimination against football fans should stop-it doesn’t apply to any other sport. Lets also be allowed to have a beer while we watch the game
This should be a no brainer, the clue is in the title, “Safe” standing. But given all the no brainers who have little interest and likely won’t even do any digging that will be party to the debate and ultimately the decision I’m not holding out much hope for common sense to prevail.
Bah!
Three of the local MPs have come out in support of safe standing, across the three major parties. It’s a shame the minister responsible rejected West Brom’s application, seemingly out of hand. If the local MPs can drum up some more support within their respective parties, we might get somewhere.
I’m in favour, even though at my age l probably won’t take advantage of it (if it ever happens), but I wouldnt want to deprive those who do want to stand of the opportunity to do so in safety.
Seconded, Jim..
For once our local MPs did us proud collectively.
I’m 60 so I’ll keep my seat in the upper Barclay for reasons of comfort alone across the entire season but if I get to stand in the lower for an occasional early-round cup tie I’ll be truly happy.
To me it’s just basic common sense to introduce safe standing. As things are stadium arrangements are in mild turmoil and I’ve seen a few near misses with kids on flip-flop seats that were never designed to be stood on.
I’m no fan of Ed Balls as a politician but he is undoubtedly a true football man so I’m looking forward to listening to and absorbing what he has to say.
Football is in a very different place to the 1980’s, when many grounds were clapped out, with poor facilities. I cannot however see this ‘posturing’ coming off, because if something else DID happen, everyone would be asking why was it allowed, so the status quo is the easiest option. As for Norwich City, they have more pressing concerns.
The majority of fans grew up with standing, though even as teenager – even before Hillsborough – you had the feeling that we were part of a dying era. And we were.
There was only one time where I ever felt unsafe and that was ironically as a poorly attended evening kick off in the ‘Full Members Cup’ – a Disney affair if ever there was one. David Hodgson had scored a late hat trick and I was getting crushed against a metal bar in the Barclay (Maybe the fact that Hodgson had only scored one league goal for us was too much for the crowd that night and made the most of it)
Think a father is going to put his son or daughter in that position? Forget it.
Football has moved on and in many ways for the worse. Don’t expect the ‘good times’ back of standing, Norwich Bitter and away fans being chased in the Wensum, because they simply aren’t gong to happen,
The people I feel sorry for are the ones that are trying to police this no standing law.
Get the MPs that oppose it to try and get spectators to sit down.
Safe standing should be allowed at both goal ends and anyone caught standing or allowing young children to stand on seats should get their names taken and warned about future offences were they could lose their ST or banned from the ground for a set period.
It just seems that our government over reacts to a given situation first there was the pitch invasion so the put fences up to stop that but it was an accident waiting to happen surely someone should have noticed that there was no emergency escape from them.
Then they make all grounds in the top 2 leagues all seaters, and state it is up to the clubs to enforce the unenforceable.
Instead of having supporters standing all over the ground have strict areas to stand and the rest of the ground to be seated this just might get accepted by the majority of the supporters.