Liverpool fans are to vote on the introduction of rail seating in football stadiums following a constructive and at times emotive meeting on safe standing. As Damian Kavanagh, one of roughly 100 people who attended the two and a half hour discussion, put it: “This is uniquely complicated for us. We should be full, front and centre of the debate because we lived with Hillsborough.”
Momentum is growing in favour of the return of standing in the top two divisions of English football. The success of Celtic’s pilot experiment last season – now a permanent feature at Celtic Park – has given further impetus to a campaign long promoted by the Football Supporters Federation (FSF). For Liverpool, however, and particularly those affected by the 1989 disaster, it is a sensitive and complex issue that divides opinion, although on the evidence of Saturday’s public meeting the tide is turning marginally in favour.
Many opposing views were voiced at the Liner Hotel, with Hillsborough survivors and relatives of the 96 who were unlawfully killed at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium to the fore. All were respectfully heard and considered. The Spirit of Shankly (SOS) supporters union who organised the meeting will poll its members and Liverpool fans this week on whether they support or oppose the introduction of rail seating.
The vote, to be announced on Monday 31 July, will set the union’s position on the issue. It will not prompt SOS to ask the football club to introduce rail seating at Anfield if in favour or lead to a campaign for its implementation. Nevertheless, it will be a significant step in the safe standing campaign should Liverpool fans and a union with thousands of members welcome its introduction. “We felt if we didn’t have the conversation it would happen around us,” explained Jay McKenna, chair of SOS. “That could be upsetting and damaging for some.”
Representatives from the FSF, the Sports Ground Safety Authority and Celtic, who along with all Scottish clubs are not bound by the 1989 Football Spectators Act that followed Lord Justice Taylor’s report into the Hillsborough disaster and introduced all-seater legislation, all spoke at the meeting.
Amanda Jacks of the FSF said: “One of the primary reasons we were always given when we started the debate was ‘We can’t have another Hillsborough’. We were also told it would deter women and children from attending matches. It was all evidence-free, they were all assumptions. Now we have evidence that standing can be managed safely. How can it be safe for people to stand at Wembley for a concert, or at rugby, but not for football fans? Most importantly it is about choice. From our surveys 85% would like to have the choice of sitting or standing to watch their teams.”
Liverpool have always been guided by the majority view of the Hillsborough families on safe standing although, in what may be a subtle shift, the club’s newly appointed head of club and fan liaison, Tony Barrett, has said: “We will listen to the views of our fans.”
The SOS held a private meeting with the families earlier in the week, where it is understood a full range of views were aired from families and survivors, and the differing positions were clear at the public meeting. The Hillsborough Family Support Group reiterated their opposition to rail seating following a recent vote among the families. The Hillsborough Justice Campaign said it does not hold a position on safe seating but welcomes “an open, fair and frank discussion on the subject with safety at the heart of any discussions.”
That is taking place.
Safety and choice were the predominant themes at the SOS meeting, held while the Premier League consults its member clubs on whether they are willing to trial rail seating. League One Shrewsbury Town have applied to have rail seating introduced at their Greenhous Meadow stadium before the end of next season.
Sara Williams, daughter of the late and relentless Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams, who lost her son Kevin in 1989, said: “My mum always felt safe standing should be allowed at football matches and so do I. We have known the truth about Hillsborough for years and years and now the whole world does. It was not standing itself which killed our Kev and 95 angels with him, it was a catalogue of serious failings by police, the ambulance service, the Football Association and many others.
“The rail seating already being used safely and successfully in Germany and elsewhere is completely different from the caged pens of 1989 in virtually every single way. I’d be happy to take my kids in there, in fact I think they would love it.”
An opposing view was read out from Sue Roberts. She stated: “My brother, Graham, was one of the 96 unlawfully killed in the crushing in the pens at Hillsborough on 15th April 1989. The cause of death was given as compression asphyxia. We all know there were many factors that contributed to the deaths of our loved ones, but had Graham been seated instead of standing this could not have happened. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think any form of standing is a step in the wrong direction.”
The most powerful address at the Liner Hotel came from Becky Shah, whose mother, Inger Shah, was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough. “I would like to see it reintroduced because I would like to reclaim the game for all of those people who went to the game in the 50s, the 60s, the 80s and have been priced out of the game they love, including myself,” she said. “The irony is I’ve been priced out of the game I love as a consequence of my mother’s death. I would like to see the working class game returned into the hands of the working classes and safe standing is a mechanism to do it. We are already standing on the Kop and at away games. It’s now time to make it safe.”
