With all-seater stadiums established in the major leagues for quite a few years now, how badly do you miss standing on the old wooden or concrete terraces? Or do you miss it at all? "Bring back terraces" Modernized stadiums should have standing sections at least for the hardcore fans in my opinion. With the increased safety at games and more professional matchday staff inside and around the stadiums, having certain no-seating areas should be possible today. What do you guys think?
It should be possible. And not just small standing areas. Big ones. A stand that fits 5000 with seats can easily fit 8000-10.000 without them in a safe way. So it would also bring a cheap solution for capacity problems. BTW standing is still possible just about anywhere.
To quote Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch, about how to prevent another Hillsborough, and the problems of terracing: "These people stood, in blocks of ten or twelve thousand on steeply banked and in some cases crumbling terracing, modified but essentially unchanged over several decades. The Taylor Report, famously and I think rightly, that every football ground become all-seater. At the time of writing, the Taylor Report is prompting noisy dissentamong fans and among some clubs. The problems are manifold. Changing the stadia to make them safe will prove expensive, and many clubs haven't got the money. Inorder to raise the money, some of them will be charging much higher entrance fees, or introducing schemes like the Arsenal or West Ham Bonds, which may mean that many young, working-class males, the traditional core of support, will be excluded. Some fans want to continue standing. (Not, I think, because standing is an inherently superior way of watching a game - it isn't. It's uncomfortable and anyone under six feet two has a restricted view. Fans worry that the end of terrace culture will mean the end of noise and atmosphere and all the things that make football memorable, but the all-seated ends at Ibrox make more noise than the Clock End and the North Bank put together; seats in themselves do not turn football grounds into churches.) All ground capacities will be reduced, some to below curtrent average attendance figures. And some clubs will have to close down altogether." Make of it what you will. Vive le AFC! OPArsenal ______________________ [size=0.75]Here's to safer stadia, even if it means the death oif terracing.[/size]
Maracana in Brazil at one time fit 205,000 fans (WC Final in 1950). The standing room area is enormous (25ooo spots) and is what you see on TV since its on the lower level. But through the years that section has been totally or partially closed. That makes for horrible on screen images because even though the stadium may still have 70000 or 80000 fans in it , it looks empty because the "gerais" are closed. Now at Maracana you usually see an ambulance sitting there behind the goal.
Depends on what kind of standings you are reffering to... There is the standings where people can sit on the cement and stuff, but they can remain seated if everyone remains seated.... and of course, there is the "gerais" where, if you seat, then you can't see the field, so you have to be in foot all the time.... Here in Mineirão(Belo Horizonte stadium), we still have the gerais working, and they get filled in important and decisive matches... We have only about 2.000 seated spots, and about 90.000 people can go on the "arquibancadas" or in the "gerais". Of course, price for both of those is really cheap, and I wish they continue, because if all of those places were seatable, the capacity would reduce to about 60.000 places... So, Hail to the geral and arquibancadas.... ehehehe
So wy o we wish to continue standing? It is uncomfortable, and your view is restricted. So why? It is, as Hornby said, the atmosphere. We fear the end of noise, of chanting, of songs. The two sides have valid arguments. It we sit, we do seem to be quieter. If we stand, we're uncomfortable. Standing is unsafe, but seats can be turned into weapons, and can impede resuce efforts. Hmmm.. The pros and cons seem about even to me, so why do we feel so adamant about terracing? Vive le AFC! OPArsenal __________________ [size=0.75] "Believe." - Senor Askew, April 22, 2003, on what Arsenal fans need to do during the Premiership stretch run.[/size]
Because before the Taylor Report, standing had been considered an acceptable part of the game for the whole history of the organized game. The culture can't be changed overnight, which is why you see resistance to the new idea even a decade after it has been implemented. I would like to see how the Germans would handle the issue of standing vs. sitting at the 2006WC. The new fancy stadia they're building will have certain section where people will be allowed to stand. It would be interesting how the two ideas could be balanced or whether they can be balanced.
I don't consider standing up to be uncomfortable. It's just the best way to see a football match. Standing and walking around where and when you please.