Good article which explains the stultifying and stagnating effect of bureaucratic behaviour management.
You seem to have meandered between different meanings of "the country", but since you mentioned Glasgow Rangers and Celtic, can I remind readers that Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium went all seated in 1978?
An excellent social summary of the game and I agree with your conclusion. As a lad, my father and I used to get to the Oak Road End at Kenilworth Road early on so that we could perch on a crash barrier. I occasionally caught a glimpse of the play whilst straining to see between the taller men in front of me and the pointless metal cages separating us from the pitch. A Luton goal would usually cause a major surge leading to a shuffling and rearrangement of the crowd. I would more often than not instantaneously cede my leaning-point and then catch up with my father at half-time or the end of the game. Happy days indeed.
Completely agree the purpose of safe standing should be to increase terrace capacity as well as the actual standing part. I wrote the the Welsh Rugby Union once about introducing it in the North Stand there, but got a ‘computer says no’ response to do with the exit flows from the stadium. If a stand built to holds 10k people has 19k people in it, the danger is when they’re leaving not coming. I would assume most modern stadium entrance/exits will have been built with their seated capacities in mind - and I expect this is the bottleneck to getting the most out of safe standing.
I had never heard this demographic explanation of the rise of hooliganism. It fits alongside a contemporaneous explosion in violence across society.
'Despite rising incomes permitting the most dedicated fans to travel much further to watch football, crowd numbers began dwindling at this time. The main cause of this was the general suburbanisation of the country. This meant that only the most committed carried on going. The altered demographics of football fandom almost inevitably meant that there was an uptick in violence and disorder, which policing and stewarding was not yet equipped to deal with'
I can remember going to White Hart Lane in the early 90s when the ends were still standing. Great atmosphere, even for a poor match (they lost 1-0 to Niall Quinn and Manchester City) but as a 9-10 year old kid I could hardly see a thing in the first half. I've been to a handful of other grounds and never come across a truly great atmosphere anywhere - Elland Road and Valley Parade had their moments, as does Cambridge's Abbey stadium but places need to be packed with a certain type of fan.
Making football middle class and expensive basically caused the demise of the hooligan fan. One of the unique quirks of Newcastle is lots of match goers are still ordinary people rather than those flying in for a few hours. I've had many discussions with fans from other parts of Europe on how the hooligan element was driven out, and the answer is basically gentrifying the game.
Personally though, the best atmosphere I've ever been in was at Twickenham. A stadium which has virtually sheer banks of seating and no segregation. Admittedly, this was back in the mid 90s when every fan was also a rugby player. I've been to rugby league games with great atmospheres too - the sport combines the good nature of union fans with the fanaticism and noise of football fans.
Good article which explains the stultifying and stagnating effect of bureaucratic behaviour management.
You seem to have meandered between different meanings of "the country", but since you mentioned Glasgow Rangers and Celtic, can I remind readers that Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium went all seated in 1978?
An excellent social summary of the game and I agree with your conclusion. As a lad, my father and I used to get to the Oak Road End at Kenilworth Road early on so that we could perch on a crash barrier. I occasionally caught a glimpse of the play whilst straining to see between the taller men in front of me and the pointless metal cages separating us from the pitch. A Luton goal would usually cause a major surge leading to a shuffling and rearrangement of the crowd. I would more often than not instantaneously cede my leaning-point and then catch up with my father at half-time or the end of the game. Happy days indeed.
Completely agree the purpose of safe standing should be to increase terrace capacity as well as the actual standing part. I wrote the the Welsh Rugby Union once about introducing it in the North Stand there, but got a ‘computer says no’ response to do with the exit flows from the stadium. If a stand built to holds 10k people has 19k people in it, the danger is when they’re leaving not coming. I would assume most modern stadium entrance/exits will have been built with their seated capacities in mind - and I expect this is the bottleneck to getting the most out of safe standing.
I had never heard this demographic explanation of the rise of hooliganism. It fits alongside a contemporaneous explosion in violence across society.
'Despite rising incomes permitting the most dedicated fans to travel much further to watch football, crowd numbers began dwindling at this time. The main cause of this was the general suburbanisation of the country. This meant that only the most committed carried on going. The altered demographics of football fandom almost inevitably meant that there was an uptick in violence and disorder, which policing and stewarding was not yet equipped to deal with'
I can remember going to White Hart Lane in the early 90s when the ends were still standing. Great atmosphere, even for a poor match (they lost 1-0 to Niall Quinn and Manchester City) but as a 9-10 year old kid I could hardly see a thing in the first half. I've been to a handful of other grounds and never come across a truly great atmosphere anywhere - Elland Road and Valley Parade had their moments, as does Cambridge's Abbey stadium but places need to be packed with a certain type of fan.
Making football middle class and expensive basically caused the demise of the hooligan fan. One of the unique quirks of Newcastle is lots of match goers are still ordinary people rather than those flying in for a few hours. I've had many discussions with fans from other parts of Europe on how the hooligan element was driven out, and the answer is basically gentrifying the game.
Personally though, the best atmosphere I've ever been in was at Twickenham. A stadium which has virtually sheer banks of seating and no segregation. Admittedly, this was back in the mid 90s when every fan was also a rugby player. I've been to rugby league games with great atmospheres too - the sport combines the good nature of union fans with the fanaticism and noise of football fans.