Villa Backs Safe Standing Trials
Aston Villa FC is backing a new campaign for trials of safe standing areas at stadia in the English top-flight and Championship, becoming the first Premier League club to publicly support the initiative.
Standing at matches in the top two divisions of English football has been filtered out since the introduction of the Football Spectators Act 1989, which was brought in following the Hillsborough disaster, although there have been calls for change with backers pointing to the successful usage of standing areas in Germany’s 1.Bundesliga.
Campaigners believe that standing areas could enhance the atmosphere in English stadia, while also potentially creating cheaper ticket prices.
Aston Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner said: ‘We have had a number of good discussions and meetings with the FSF (Football Supporters’ Federation) over the past 12 months and fully support their campaign to allow small-scale trials of safe standing areas at grounds.’
‘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.’
‘We believe Villa Park could be a potential venue for such a trial, and would like the opportunity to progress the plans further with the wider support of the football community in this country.’
