Safe standing enquiry to look at fan behaviour
The government is review into safe standing will examine whether crowds behave worse if allowed to stand than when they are seated.
The review will also look at research on the risk of injury to fans who stand in seated areas, the BBC report.
After an long-held opposition to any change in the law, Sports minister Tracy Couch announced the review in June and the move has been welcomed by the FA.
Every stadium in the Premier League and Championship must be all-seated following recommendations from the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in 1989.
However, the campaign to bring back standing at football matches has been growing since improvements in safe standing technology.
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Earlier this year, 94 per cent of 33,000 respondents to an EFL survey on the issue said fans should be allowed to choose whether they wanted to sit or stand at games.
Now, the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has now issued a tender document setting out the terms of reference for the review.
The “impact of standing on disorder” is among the areas that will be examined, the document says, along with stadium and seating design and technology and approaches to crowd management.
The review is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
