Time to take a stand? The law on all-seated stadiums in England and Wales and the case for change
- PDF / 741,973 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 108 Downloads / 150 Views
ARTICLE
Time to take a stand? The law on all‑seated stadiums in England and Wales and the case for change David Rigg1 Published online: 27 September 2018 © The Author(s) 2018
Abstract In June 2018, the UK Government announced a review of the ban on standing at football matches in the Premier League and Championship. Nearly 30 years since the Hillsborough disaster, there is growing interest in the introduction of safestanding to football grounds in England and Wales. This paper considers official reports dating back to 1924 in an attempt to understand the woeful safety record of UK football grounds in the twentieth century, and the many missed opportunities to secure the safety of fans. The argument is made that Taylor LJ’s lack of trust in both the desire and ability of footballing authorities and clubs to ensure fan safety led him to make all-seating a cornerstone of his vision for football. The current law is then reviewed before considering how safe-standing differs from the crumbling and overcrowded terraces of the 1980s. The paper concludes that stadium and crowd management measures, backed up by a robust regulatory system which has the support of all stakeholders, are necessary to ensure the continuing safety of football fans in England and Wales. Keywords Safe standing · Sports Law · Regulation · Hillsborough
1 Introduction The expert Report of the Technical Working Party which assisted Taylor LJ’s Inquiry into the Hillsborough stadium disaster included the observation that “Whilst standing accommodation is not intrinsically unsafe, all-seater stadia bring benefits to spectator comfort, safety and crowd control”.1 Taylor went on to conclude “There is no panacea which will achieve total safety and cure all problems of behaviour and crowd control. But I am satisfied that seating does more to achieve those objectives than any other single measure”.2 None of the reports into crowd safety in the twentieth century had found any inherent danger in standing on the terraces, and standing areas are still permitted in the leagues beneath the Premier League and Championship provided they meet regulatory standards. The causes of the many previous incidents and disasters were the absence of basic and rudimentary safety practices concerning stadium and crowd management, primarily relating to the * David Rigg [email protected] 1
Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Lower Ormond Street, Manchester M15 6BH, UK
13
Vol:.(1234567890)
calculation of capacity and match day attendance. The recommendations of those earlier reports were ignored until 1973. When a system of licensing was introduced by the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 (SSGA 1975), it failed to change entrenched practices and attitudes to safety. Rather than safety per se, it was Taylor LJ’s determination to change attitudes and usher in a “new ethos for football” that led him to recommend all-seated stadiums. There is now heightened interest in the introduction of “safe-standing” to football stadiums in England and Wales through the u
Data Loading...
