That man standing is the fan who prefers to stand and watch football. He is the standing fan who stands on his seat if he has one or stands on the terracing if he is lucky enough to support a club with an standing only area.   He may not necessarily be German or French, he could be from Larbert and support East Stirling.      He could be in the Bundesliga or or Bucharest but he could also be on the Kop where Liverpool fans stand on mass at times.     Male or female they stand upright, arms crossed, or arms by the side. Or with flag over heads, on a stick or organising a display or a chant.

Typically in some countries standing areas can be called curvas or standing zones. But today the use of the term standing at football causes some confusion. You have a seat so why do you want to stand? Some say you should only be able to stand if there is no seat available; if you have paid for a seat then use it right? Others say its more comfortable sitting and watching the action or catching a sleep depending on what team you are watching. All in all standing seems to have become the pervasive term in football culture for standing up not on terracing but on or next to seats inside the stadium. Even in Germany, where you can stand, they put seats in the area you can stand, so you cannot stand and you have to sit. Then when domestic competition comes back into the fold they remove the seats and you can stand again.    It has all - the rules - become really confusing.

Sometimes the fan stands alone amongst hundreds or thousands of others.   His sole goal is to direct the entire crowd into unified support of the team. Some will join; some will mock and others will ridicule. But in achieving success in getting others to stand he must draw their attention from away from himself and to the action on the pitch.   He can start a new song, beat a drum, wave a scarf and stand with arms raised at the same time or even jump around as one body against the system. All the time he has a seat beside him.

What he stands on could be custom made in eastern europe or purchased second hand from an old ground that is now a Tesco supermarket.   Its shade of color may be slightly out of sync with others around it just like the red or green on scarves or the paint on newly created banners.    Either way he is free not like that below him which sits fixed to the one time terracing.    Sometimes he that stands has to deal with blank stares and even open hostility from his fellow fans and the authorities. He can be driven to despair by the crowd’s apathy and its almost week on week failure respond to his wishes and fanatical exhortations to join in.

The standing fan must try to assert his own sense of authority against the powers that be. They may choose to do it purely on charisma and on sheer physical presence; man in man against theory and law. They can do it through on-line petition or threat or by approaching a politician to further the cause. They might do it by singling out the individuals who are ruining the show; the steward, the policeman and the CCTV cameraman. Like a political theory to popular masses those standing must find a way to spellbind the masses into obedience and to follow.

The vast majority of supporters state that what they mostly enjoy about watching football is the importance of atmosphere and participation. There is a crucial difference for some others who seek to almost always be a spectator; that is sitting, clapping and if the game should be really bad sleeping or picking your nose.    Artur Boruc the Polish goalkeeper at Celtic famously spoke of how for most games at Celtic Park the fans came to 'pick their nose' and that Celtic fans could never create the atmosphere in Glasgow that exists at Legia Warsaw games.    Why they cannot is not to hard to clear up but requires a short history lesson as well.

Before the 'new Celtic Park' was created the atmosphere was intimidating and old school. The vast majority of fans stood, aside from those in the main stand, in large curva like terraced areas with fans squashed together like sardines and serving to generate an electric atmosphere even when half full. Across from the main stand Celtic fans stood in the 'Jungle' area, a large Kippax like construction full of the hardcore supporter base. Again it was standing only like behind the goal areas and stewards did not go there. Then around the mid 1990's there was a sea change in football watching and Celtic Park was not immune to the cultural shift.    As Fergus McCann set about changing the Celtic brand so Celtic Park was changing completely as well. Away went the terracing and the jungle all to be replaced by roofed two tier seating only areas called the Lisbon Lions stand or the Jock Stein stand.

Now you would think that such a ground with seating areas named after legendary figures from the clubs past would improve things. Well in terms of those wanting to attend things did improve with over 55,000 turning up each week for league games. For the club the increased revenue has saw the club grow and progress on the field with both the domestic and European theatre. In the stadium though things could not be much different;  on a typical matchday Celtic Park is akin to a morgue.

Aside from UEFA Champions league games and match ups against cross city rivals Rangers, Celtic Park has very little atmosphere. When visiting fans that come to the ground they are more often that not left asking themselves 'Where's your famous atmosphere?' rather than asking each other 'What an atmosphere!'.     And Celtic Park is not alone, St. James Park now wants to 'bring back the noise' as does 'Old Trafford'.   Both were emblems and symbolic of the standing fan now they are soul-less seats infested monoliths emblematic of the hubristic pride of the new football fan and the greedy club.

So what happened to the famous Celtic Park roar, the Stretford End sway or the Gallowgate chants? How did a dilapidated crumbling grounds go from an atmospheric cauldron and turn into a theatre with no atmosphere. The answer can be perhaps be found through the simple problem of seating replacing terracing.   All-seat stadiums the length and breadth of the country have seen attendances increase but have also greatly reduced atmosphere inside the ground and some fans have stopped attending matches as a result.     The seat has become a burden rather than a bonus. It is natural to want to stand at an event as passionate as football and, despite the efforts of the Football Authorities, match day public address announcers and police warnings, many fans on mass continue still choose to do it, yet it is meant to be illegal.

Why is standing permitted at rock concerts, rugby matches, ice hockey games and in pubs even though behaviour is often far worse than at experienced at football matches?   The trouble also with seating is that the rule makers have stated that supporters can stand at moments of excitement but not persistently and if they do they are committing a crime. But if it is safe to stand when a goal is scored, why not at other times? To justify the no standing theory the authorities say that one person leaning forward could cause a cascade, yet thousands of goals are celebrated by supporters jumping around with seats in front of them with no evidence of such an effect. Also if safety is the issue, why are supporters ejected at some grounds yet no action taken to keep them seated at others? Many clubs and safety officers agree that standing in designated areas is not unsafe but they disallow it. So who, the supporter, the rule maker or the enforcer is committing the crime?

It would seem from this alone that the ban on standing at grounds cannot be justified or enforced.    Some will point to crowds increasing with the introduction of all seater but anyone who was around in the 1980's or before will tell you that grounds had better atmospheres then.  Lessons have been learned by supporters from Hillsborough and other accidents and major steps taken to improve safety but the seat is surely not the all encompassing nuts and bolts in this whole health and safety thing.   The total ban on terracing is neither necessary nor workable and nor is it wholly enforced in every ground. It's quite possible to visit a lower league ground where terracing still exists and complements standing areas. This is because these areas are properly managed terracing areas which hold a controlled number of people and with no fences thereby ensuring that they are perfectly managed.    If  they were not safe, why are they still permitted in the lower divisions and in Germany? Are the Germans less secuirty conscious than us?   Another theory for the introduction of the seat was that it would encourage fans to behave; thereby asserting indirectly that allowing supporters to stand will or could lead to crowd trouble.   A regulation banning standing is hardly likely to stop anyone who is sufficiently agitated to cause trouble from getting out of their seat and doing so.

Another theory is that all-seat stadiums are more welcoming places for women and families. But what is this Victorian times or  a theory based on chivalry and gentlemanly mannerisms?   this is 2010 for goodness sake.    Women who attend football matches go for the same reasons as men, they want atmosphere and enthusiasm not the opportunity to show off handbags or new shoes. There is no dividing line between the sexes in terms of who wants to stand or who does not.   It seems ludicrous where clubs are obliged to spend masses each year on security and policing to enforce a seating rule but plainly either cannot universally or refuse to bother in certain situations. The whole situation is leaving clubs, stewards, local authorities and the supporter in a situation where no-one seems to know what to do or what they can do.

Rather than running scared from what many perceive as a massive safety issue, the football authorities need to step in and give clubs some help in resolving what is becoming the major customer care and policing issue inside grounds when it need not be. If the football authorities considered allowing clubs to permit some standing areas this may have some beneficial effects for all fans; both those that want to stand and those hat do not want to be around it.

It could prevent those fans who want to sit ending up in the wrong section of the stadium where persistent standing takes place.    Stewards could be sensibly deployed elsewhere and costs reduced; it is likely that fewer police would be needed as the area would be self policed. Customer Relations Department at the ground could get fewer fans complaining and, finally, with the removal of one source of potential aggravation, it is likely that health and safety figures might improve overall in the ground.

Written for V.I.F©