On Sunday 30th of July, the Spirit of Shankly, Liverpool's primary supporters group, will conduct a vote amongst its members. The topic up for consideration is the (re)introduction of safe standing for fans of Premier League and Championship clubs.
This polling will solely seek to gauge the opinions of Liverpool fans, and shall not necessarily determine the outcome of the Football Supporters Federation's initiative. However, according to Jim White of The Telegraph, it is widely believed that
If Liverpool fans do back the idea and the campaign momentum becomes unstoppable.
With the release of the final Taylor Report (1990) in response to the Hillsborough tragedy of the previous year, the recommendation was clear; all major stadiums were to convert to all-seated arenas by August 1994. Although it was not unanimously welcomed at the time, the horrors of April 1989 overran any thoughts of vociferous opposition to the ruling.
Yet, the successful employment of safe standing in Germany's Bundesliga and, perhaps more vividly, at Celtic's Park Head, has precipitated a potential shift in how fans of English football view their team at first hand. White demonstrates how,
Last year’s coroners’ verdict and the subsequent criminal charges has changed perspectives on Merseyside. Now that the truth they have known for years has become officially accepted, things are different.
Given the relative lack of competition that faces Celtic domestically, it is telling that the stadium experience and atmosphere therein remains noteworthy:
The desire to copy the Celtic way is everywhere. Fan groups at most Premier League clubs have been lobbying for such an introduction, arguing that Celtic Park has seen a dramatic improvement in matchday atmosphere since 3,500 fans were allowed to stand together in a communal choir at the start of last season.
In conjunction with the jealousy that many fans of English football clubs have for the fan-owned initiative underwriting most of Germany's Bundesliga's clubs, the success of their safe-standing initiatives have not gone unnoticed either; Dortmund's 'Yellow Wall' becoming perhaps the most emblematic image of what many English football fans feel is lacking in their match-day experience.
Although Sunday's vote will not determine whether or not safe-standing returns to the Premier League and Championship, it is thought that 'as goes Liverpool, so goes the Nation'.
