Years ago, football grounds had standing up terracing where fans could congregate and come in their thousands to really get the atmosphere going. Now all this is gone, dead and buried due to law and health and safety. Gone are the days were you could go to a match, pay on the gate and worm your way through a capacity crowd to find yourself as near to the front as possible as fans wave their scarves and chant around you like a mad man whilst really enjoying yourself. In their place are the days were everyone must sit down or stewards will eject you, crowds have reduced slightly because seats are now were you used to be able to stand and the atmosphere has died a little in comparison to the old days. I am not saying in any way that all seating stadiums are a terrible thing and are killing the game, but they do tend to create a duller atmosphere and if you are a paying fan you want as much noise and excitement as possible. Over stewarding at some clubs stops this completely and they will not hesitate to throw you out of the ground just for standing up and seat allocation means having to stand a whole row up just to go to the toilet before half time. In an all standing terrace ground this would not be a problem since it does not matter where you are, you are not bothering anybody and getting in anybodies way. The way the crowd moves when a goal is scored in an all standing ground is something to truly behold and it really shows a passion for the game which cannot be reproduced in any other way. Now some clubs are lucky to get a round of applause for scoring because you must remain seated surrounded by grumpy fans always complaining. All seated grounds do have their advantages though. It makes football stadiums more family friendly as there is little risk of losing your children when they are sat right next to you and nobody is pushing in front of you to see the action, also the issue of hooliganism can be resolved inside the ground if the fans cannot get to each other because of good segregation between the fans. All seaters were introduced as a measure to tackle any future disasters such as the Heysel disaster where 39 Juventus fans died after Liverpool fans charged at them. The Hillsborough disaster also had a major impact when 96 Liverpool fans died as a result of a huge crowd overload inside the stadium which caused a massive crush which killed the fans. Thankfully, this has not happened since seating stadiums and tough laws were introduced. There are both pros and cons of having all standing stadiums which I have briefly delved into, but personally I would love a return to the all standing days as opposed to all seating stadiums purely for the improved atmosphere, although crowd segregation would have to be a priority to avoid any trouble on the terraces.
What do you prefer, standing or seated stadiums and why?
No comments:
Post a Comment