Villa back campaign for safe standing
Friday 26 October 2012
Printable
EmailFootball: Aston Villa have become the first Premier League club to publicly support a new campaign for trials of standing areas for fans in top-flight and Championship matches.
The campaign has been launched by the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) and Birmingham MP Roger Godsiff.
Aston Villa and Peterborough have both given their support to calls for the government to allow “small-scale trials of safe standing areas” and have volunteered to host a trial.
Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner said: “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.”
Godsiff has also submitted an early day motion to Parliament which “urges the government to accept the case for introducing, on a trial basis, limited standing areas.”
The trials would need a change in the Football Spectators Act 1989, brought in after the Hillsborough disaster, and last year the Hillsborough Family Support Group opposed any move to bring back standing areas.
The Premier League and successive governments have until now also opposed any change.
If you appreciated this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep developing your paper.
