As a result of the fact that over 100,000 people signed the recent petition in support of safe standing in football grounds the subject will be debated in Parliament on Monday June 25th.
This debate provides an excellent opportunity for the safe standing campaign to gain more publicity and for some of the myths about standing to be quashed.
Please write to your MP to bring their attention to the debate and to request that they attend it. In particular, we would urge you to write if your MP is Sports Minister Tracey Crouch
We suggest that you write something along these lines:
Dear MP,
I am writing to bring your attention to a debate to be held in Parliament on Monday June 25th on the subject of the provision of safe standing areas at football stadia.
The debate has been brought about by the fact that 116,000 recently signed a petition in support of clubs being permitted to introduce safe standing areas (rail seating). Of over 6,000 petitions started in this parliament only 20 have reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures and only six of those reached 100,000 quicker than this one. Safe standing is definitely an idea whose time has come.
The provision of rail seating will offer choice to supporters about how they watch their football and will reduce the number of instances of people standing in seating areas (which is dangerous). Furthermore, it will allow those who prefer to sit to enjoy a match without their view being obstructed by people standing in front of them.
At present most clubs in England are prohibited from introducing safe standing areas even on a trial basis. However, Celtic FC have offered 3000 standing places for the past three seasons and this has been very popular with their supporters. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said in 2016 that the government were "unconvinced by the case for safe standing but would monitor how it was working at Celtic."
At my club - Charlton Athletic - 78% of fans in a survey conducted by Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust supported the introduction of safe standing at The Valley. For under 25s this figure increased to 87%.
I would like to request that you attend the debate on June 25th both to learn more about the technicalities of rail seating and to lend your support to the campaign to allow all clubs to introduce safe standing areas and thereby increase the enjoyment of their paying supporters.
Yours etc
You can find the e mail address of your MP here:
https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/