English League One soccer club Shrewsbury Town is set to undertake the process to seek approval for rail standing for fans.
The club is the first in English soccer to formally apply to do so. If the plans are given the green light by the UK’s Sports Ground Safety Authority and the local safety advisory group (among other bodies) the New Meadow ground will become the first all-seater stadium in England and Wales to introduce safe standing.
Shrewsbury Town has applied for approval to create a safe standing area in the Salop Leisure Stand with a capacity of around 500 within the club’s 10,000-capacity all-seater ground. The plan is to fit the area with rail seats, as used successfully in the safe standing section introduced at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, last summer. The installation is to be crowdfunded.
“There’s a clear demand from our fans for an area where they can stand safely,” said Supporters Parliament Joint Chair Roger Groves in a club statement.
“We see that at every game with several hundred choosing to stand at their seats, which is not altogether safe. Rail seats will ensure that nobody falls over no matter how wildly they celebrate a goal and, by having a dedicated standing area, we believe that the overall atmosphere in the stadium will also be enhanced. For all those fans who prefer to sit, it will additionally mean that there will be no standing fans in their part of the ground spoiling their view.”
June 28, 2017
