Safe Standing - never say never...

[Burt]

I think I read somewhere that as part of the Riverside development, there would be extra exits by the river at both ends of the ground. This can only help because it is a bit of a squeeze.

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

IMO  if the Enclosure ( tailor made )  was all standing and  we had a smaller standing area down the front of the Riverside,   what an atmosphere it would make !!.  I think Fulham would get permission over any other ground.
 

[epsomraver]

If you want to have an informed debate about capacities at football stadia, you need to know the rules from the Act, end of...

Getting you H & S information from the daily mail just doesn't doesn't cut it

From my very important and highly paid job, not the daily mail, is that not meals on wheels at the door?

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

If you want to have an informed debate about capacities at football stadia, you need to know the rules from the Act, end of...

Getting you H & S information from the daily mail just doesn't doesn't cut it

From my very important and highly paid job, not the daily mail, is that not meals on wheels at the door?

ENJOY YOUR FOOD, GET THEM TO CUT IT UP FOR YOU...

[LBNo11]

...ageism is alive and well I see.

Anyway, I'm disappointed that personal insults as opposed to 'banter' have been the result of this post.

I prefer terracing, full stop. I hope I can find a suitable stepped zimmer for when the time comes that I can legally stand. Oh! and FulhamOldBoy, I survived the 1967 Easter game against man ure with 43K, and in what would give the jobsworth H&E consultants apoplexy is that kids like I was at the time were given room to congregate at the front of the terracing so that we could see the game easier, and horror of horrors, adults used to pass the younger children over their heads to the front also for the same reason - and some of us survived unharmed.

Good old Darwin...

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

IMO  if the Enclosure ( tailor made )  was all standing and  we had a smaller standing area down the front of the Riverside,   what an atmosphere it would make !!.  I think Fulham would get permission over any other ground.
 

I think that would be really great.  There may be an issue with a risk assessment for safe standing in the JH stand.  The JH stand is designated higher risk because it is made of wood.  

The circulating areas under the stand have been reduced by recent developments and so space there is a limiting factor.  The stand would have to be segregated to stop fans tryng to change ends at half time.  Having these segregation barriers in would limit further the capacity as they reduce egress routes.

The area would need to be relatively heavily stewarded to avoid those standing in the rain trying to move back, (remember the half covered Hammersmith end) and to ensure that those entering the stand with tickets for seats don't try to get into the standing areas (like many music gigs).  

We would need to check the slope of the stand to ensure that viewing angles are suitable for standing and we would need to designate some areas as unusable due to restricted views.  Restricted viewing areas don't work for safe standing areas as people would try and budge up to get a better view.

As the capacity limiting factor for the stand is based around access and ingresss, there will probably not be any increased capacity from this reconfiguration and therefore no profit to be had from introducing it, unless people are willing to pay more to stand than to sit.  

The police and LBH&F and the Safety Officer will be against it because of the extra risk that they will need to sign off.
Because of the precedent it will set for QPR and CFC, LBH&F and the police will probably publically support it but privately block it...

The BPL / FA will not like it as it sets a precedent (much in the same way they did not like us having standing areas whe we first came up).  it may work at craven cottagemuch the same way that our neutral end works (because we are friendly Fulham and NOT Chelsea or QPR) but the precedent will not be enjoyed by other clubs who will lobby us not to implement it.

...

[premFlem]

 Personally I would prefer a safe standing area that incorporates a new Vocal fans section within the Hammersmith End ideally.

[Senior Supporter]

That's a very good point you make Mr EW about spectators in a 'standing only' enclosure wishing to gravitate towards the end we were attacking, or even the centre line if the area was divided in two. Perhaps there would need to be a number of sections, but stewarding would be a nightmare compared to seated areas. For that reason maybe it would be easier to manage if the standing area was in the Hammersmith end.

[A Humble Man]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

[LBNo11]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

...the seats aren't big enough in H6, anyway it would distract me from the match..!

[Senior Supporter]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

...the seats aren't big enough in H6, anyway it would distract me from the match..!

Surely more likely to go unnoticed in a standing area ..... and you wouldn't get grumbled at for blocking anyone's view.

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

That's a very good point you make Mr EW about spectators in a 'standing only' enclosure wishing to gravitate towards the end we were attacking, or even the centre line if the area was divided in two. Perhaps there would need to be a number of sections, but stewarding would be a nightmare compared to seated areas. For that reason maybe it would be easier to manage if the standing area was in the Hammersmith end.

It ain't quite as simple as the "safe standing brigade" would have you believe...

[LBNo11]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

...the seats aren't big enough in H6, anyway it would distract me from the match..!

Surely more likely to go unnoticed in a standing area ..... and you wouldn't get grumbled at for blocking anyone's view.

...another excellent reason for safe standing, I can think of some onanists who could benefit, but they will be sitting down..!

[King_Crud]

Cottaging at the Cottage

[Burt]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

...the seats aren't big enough in H6, anyway it would distract me from the match..!

If this was in the JH stand you may end up with some nasty splinters in unfortunate places...!

[Logicalman]

Even sex is better sitting down with the perfect women.

...the seats aren't big enough in H6, anyway it would distract me from the match..!

Surely more likely to go unnoticed in a standing area ..... and you wouldn't get grumbled at for blocking anyone's view.

...another excellent reason for safe standing, I can think of some onanists who could benefit, but they will be sitting down..!

Jeez LB, I had to look that word up, and from what I read, sitting down may not be the requirement, though preferable it must be said.


As for all this malarkey regarding bringing back the terraces, I agree, the front end of the Riverside would be best, so the old codgers like myself (and others I have noticed on here) can sit it comfort in the Hammy end.

As for how it used to be, I do recall, as LB appears to, standing down at the front end of the Hammy end, and never managed to get crushed once, perhaps people were more respectful to and caring of others in those days, but that all changed with the aggro of the 70's that turned stadiums into fortresses and forever spoiled attending the matches. Disasters such as Hillsborough just added to piling on stupid rules on top of stupid rules and at the end of the day, removing the fencing that exacerbated the problems at Hillsborough, didn't lead to the expected violence and pitch invasions they were there to prevent. To my mind it just goes to show that even back then, the authorities making the rules had little idea about what the common man (woman) was like, and that is still true today.
Can we ever return to what it was like? Nope. These days people want comfort, and that allows some clubs to charge exorbitant ticket prices, and as others have expressed on this MB in the past, The Beautiful Game is no longer a working-man's sport, sadly it's just another commercial enterprise. 

[BB]

It ain't quite as simple as the "safe standing brigade" would have you believe...
[/quote

... perhaps we can move this point forward

As an HSE manager.. let me assure YOU, there is absolutely NOTHING so simple, as standing, or safety. Get your nose out of the rabid DM and get a life.

The old Enclosure, in the front of the now renamed JH stand was a purpose built standing area!! It was also safe...!! The fact that people used to smoke and stand in there (for decades!!), seems to have escaped your microscopic gaze. The smoking ban enforced there, is, as much as I hate it, a very necessary piece of legislation, for this type of stand. Although why it is banned in other areas of the ground is a mystery to me and many others.

The entry and egress areas of Craven Cottage have not changed in the past 50 years (if not longer), so why is it a problem now? Far bigger crowds have managed to safely negotiate their way in and out of the area before and dare I say, park right their cars right outside the ground and its surrounding streets... The vast majority also managed to stand for the whole match as well, with no ill effects!!!

"Safe Standing", is practised all over the world by many millions of human beings every day... and I am sure that the re-introduction of this very same event, will be seen back on the 'terraces' of Craven Cottage, hopefully sooner rather than later!!

[MJG]

The entry and egress areas of Craven Cottage have not changed in the past 50 years (if not longer), so why is it a problem now?

But they have changed through health & safety changes/new kiosks/New walkways/new facilities.

[A Humble Man]

A cheap "safe standing area" would be a huge plastic tube stapled to the terrace the hight of the stand where the mindless people who want to do this regressive activity can be dropped into on their heads from the top of it.

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

The entry and egress areas of Craven Cottage have not changed in the past 50 years (if not longer), so why is it a problem now?

But they have changed through health & safety changes/new kiosks/New walkways/new facilities.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good arguement...