Thu 26 Sep
Time to read: 2mins
Derby continue to help Football League with potential Safe Standing trials.
The Football League board agreed to explore the steps that need to be taken ahead of holding trials of safe-standing areas within football grounds during the summer and Derby County are continuing to show their support.
The Safe Standing Campaign aims to persuade the Government, football authorities and clubs to accept the case for introducing, on a trial basis, limited sections for standing at selected grounds in the stadiums of Premier League and Championship football clubs.
Derby remain in regular contact with the Football League on the issue and are continuing to provide information during their consultation process in order to provide further details to the League’s board.
The recent Safe Standing Roadshow attracted growing support and the Rams are keen to continue working closely with the Football League to explore the possibility of installing safe standing sections.
The system, which has been widely used in the German Bundesliga for a number of years at the likes of Wolfsburg, Hannover, Werder Bremen and Stuttgart, enables quick switching from seating to standing areas.
The ‘rail-seats’ are robust metal seats with a high back including a sturdy rail that fans can hold. The seats can fold up flush and be locked between the uprights creating wider clearways than along rows of normal seats.
Last year, Derby County fan Nick Webster visited the AWD-Arena, the home of German Bundesliga football club Hannover 96 to get a first-hand look at the safe standing facilities.
Nick had been invited over to Hannover to be part of a promotional film for ‘rail seats’, something which he remains optimistic will be in use at Pride Park in the future.
From 1994, all clubs in the Premier League and Championship have been required to provide all-seated accommodation for their supporters. This shadowed Lord Justice Taylor’s report into the Hillsborough Disaster of April 1989.
However, in December 2011, trials of rail seats were sanctioned by the Scottish Premier League and in the following January, Premier League side Aston Villa expressed a keen interest in safe standing.
Watch a Safe Standing video feature on Derby County on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FyCllXBVGA.
