The topic of safe standing appears every now and then, and Villa have again stated their support for such a trial.
Speaking to the press, Paul Faulkner said on the idea of holding a series of small trials (to which Villa have said they would host such a trial):
‘We have had a number of good discussions and meetings with the Football Supporters’ Federation over the past 12 months and fully support their campaign to allow small scale trials of safe standing areas at grounds. Whenever we have discussed the topic with our fans we’ve found almost unanimous support for such a trial, and the concept of giving fans the choice to decide to either sit or stand at a game. We believe Villa Park could be a potential venue for such a trial, and would like the opportunity to progress the plans further.’
Safe standing has figured regularly at the SCG meetings and it’s certainly time for a change with Hillsborough obviously figuring highly in the news of late. As Peter Daykin, Safe Standing Coordinator at the FSF rightly points out:
‘Standing was outlawed on grounds of safety, and yet successive governments have agreed that standing is safe – it’s hard not to when it’s done perfectly safely every week at rugby grounds, lower league football grounds and in top football leagues all around world.’
Many point to Germany as an example, not just for safe standing, but football as a customer market at large, so why don’t we give fans the choice?
For those further interested in this MP Roger Godsiff has also submitted an early day motion to Parliament urging the Government to ‘accept the case for introducing, on a trial basis, limited standing areas’ in support of the FSF’s campaign.
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