In the second of the series of articles Matt Davis looks at football related questions that you could ask if a candidate turns up at your door, or if you wish to email them and ask directly!

The articles are paraphrased from the Football Supporters Federation web site with today’s article turning the spotlight on Safe Standing and Supporter Rights & Criminalisation.

Safe Standing

Facts:

• Clear demand amongst a sizeable proportion of match-going football supporters to watch football matches whilst standing
• There is frequently conflict between stewards and supporters, as ground authorities attempt to enforce all-seated regulations despite large numbers wishing to stand at matches.
• Regulations have proved to be both unpopular and unenforceable.
• Safe standing areas are a feature of most major stadia in Germany and new stadia with safe standing areas have recently opened in Austria (Klagenfurt) and the USA (Denver).
• In Germany, safe standing areas are being expanded at some stadia (Leverkusen and Munich) due to popular demand.
• The Hillsborough Disaster was categorically not caused by fans standing. As the Taylor Report makes clear, the roots of the disaster were poor design, maintenance, signage, safety management and coordination, coupled with fences preventing escape onto the pitch and uncontrolled numbers entering these enclosed areas.
• A large number of supporters continue to prefer to stand, witnessed by the fact that they do so every week, with ever-increasing numbers openly disobeying ground regulations……

Proposed changes (albeit argued by some not all):

• Regulations prohibiting stadia with standing areas in the Premier League and Football League Championship in England & Wales should be rescinded and replaced with regulations requiring any standings areas to be of minimum acceptable standards in terms of safety, design, maintenance and management.
• Government’s role in football stadia should be restricted to a licensing and inspection system which ensures that stadia employed by professional football clubs (or indeed for any other spectator sporting event) meet minimum acceptable safety management standards, both in terms of design and event management.
• A common sense solution would be to free clubs and supporters to develop properly designed, maintained and managed safe standing areas to permit them to do so in comfort and safety.

Question: What is your party’s position on safe standing at top football stadia in England & Wales, and what steps does your party propose, if any, to address these issues?

 

Supporter Rights & Criminalisation

Facts:

• Where the law is concerned, football supporters are treated like no other groups of people or 'communities' in the UK, in that there are behaviours which are an offence if you are a football fan but not if you aren’t.
• The way supporters are treated at, and travelling to and from, matches makes it a wonder many of them bother to continue supporting their teams at all.
• Much of the legislation related to football supporters is antiquated and has not been reviewed for over 20 years, relating to a very different era before CCTV and improved stadium design, etc.
• As just one example, the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol) Act 1985 prevents supporters drinking alcohol on coaches etc. transporting them to games or whilst in view of the football pitch, whereas spectators of any other sport or attendees at a pop concert at the same stadium do not face the same legal restrictions.
• Powers under Section 27 of the VCRA have also recently been used as a tactic by some police forces to disrupt the match day experience of many decent, law abiding fans, effectively being used as a “one-match football banning order” without a requirement for evidence or judicial process – something highly inappropriate and certainly not what this Act was intended for.
• There is no doubt that the reputation of football supporters was badly tarnished during the 1970's & 80's and there is also no doubt that the subsequent introduction of Football Banning Orders helped rid the sport of many of the 'criminals' attaching themselves to our game, but there is a clear policy of these being applied with a greater vigour than any comparable legal action (e.g. for first or minor offences where a caution would be far more appropriate.)
• Football supporters are routinely policed en masse according to reputation and stereotype rather than in response to their actions or to evidence or intelligence. This is counterproductive as it alienates the vast majority of supporters who are law-abiding, reducing their confidence in football policing.

Required:

• Aleration of much of the legislation pertaining to football supporters forward, in keeping with today's environment of modern stadia and family orientated crowds
• The behaviour of supporters nowadays warrants a review of much of this legislation.
• Review of the application of Banning Orders – not to get rid of them or dilute their effectiveness, but to ensure that they are only applied where appropriate to the offence committed.

Question: Would you agree the time has come to prove that 'watching football is not a crime' and, if elected, how would you go about tackling these issues?

The final article in this series will appear later this week