Monday, April 05, 2010

Apparently, because I support a non-league team, it's safe for me to stand. Does that make me a more responsible person?

I note that Liberal Democrat policy on football stadia has changed recently, in that we now believe that football fans should be allowed to stand, having supported the abolition of standing areas after the Hillsborough tragedy. So, what do I think?


I'm a supporter of Luton Town, Bedfordshire's finest football team. In the past twenty years, we've played in every division between the top flight and the Football Conference, the apex of the non-league pyramid (I'm still in shock at the notion of having to play Eastbourne Borough. And where is Forest Green, anyway?). It's mostly been downhill all the way though.


That aside, the club's attendances this season have been averaging 7,000 or so, massive by non-league standards. Given that Kenilworth Road is owned by the local council, is entirely inappropriate for the modern era, and impossible to rebuild due to its location, there has been a long debate about the need for a new stadium for the team. Because we are in the Blue Square Conference, the stadium is obliged to fulfil certain criteria. Amongst them, it must;

  • have at least 500 covered seats, at least 250 of which must be in one stand
  • a minimum capacity of 4,000
i.e. more than 87.5% of spectators may stand. Curiously, this seems to cause no problems at all, and it means that you could theoretically have a crowd of 25,000 turn up, 24,500 of them having to stand. A couple of relegations, and Leeds United could demonstrate that...

It makes the rules that apply further up the footballing food chain seem all the more ridiculous and is another example of the state wrapping us up in cotton wool in an almost certainly vain attempt to protect us from harm. There were, over the years, few instances where football fans were hurt at games, and most of those were attributable to violence or a failure of policing or stewarding.

Terraces allowed fans to get in to games relatively cheaply and, if well designed, offered a safe vantage point. In countries where fans are, might I suggest, more passionate about their football, the notion of all-seater stadia would be unacceptable. And, having taken in games in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, I cannot believe that the authorities there would even consider banning standing.

So I'm pleased that Don Foster has seen sense and changed our policy. Singling out football for such restrictions whilst allowing Promenaders to stand at the Royal Albert Hall was a sign of the class-based way in which cultural policy is made. Middle class concertgoers can be trusted to stand in a confined space, whereas 'common people' at Upton Park or the Stadium of Light can't. The current requirement for all-seater stadia is a nonsense. It's time for change that works for us...

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