In the wake of the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989, football stadiums in England’s top two tiers moved to being all-seater venues. The decision came after the Taylor Report into the disaster, which made the idea of venues becoming all-seater a top priority in spite of the fact that it was police negligence rather than anything done by the supporters that caused the deaths of 97 people.
In the decades since, supporters at grounds up and down the country have been standing unsafely, which is where the drive for safe standing has come from. Now it seems as though Hull City will introduce it from next season.
Nearly 3,000 Seats to be Converted
Hull City have announced that close to 2,700 seats in the MKM Stadium will be converted into safe standing ahead of the 2025-2026 season. Those seats will be spread between the home and away ends, with work to carry out the conversion beginning after the club’s final home game of the current campaign against Derby County on the 26th of April. Ferco Seating will oversee the project, which has already carried out similar work at the likes of Norwich City and Celtic. The club’s Operating Office, Joe Clutterbrook, said, “We welcome the introduction of safe standing.”
The seats will be installed in the top 12 rows of the North Stand between blocks N1 and N5, as well as blocks E3 and E4 in the Chris Chilton Stand, alongside the northern half of the North-West corner. That will see 1,574 seats converted in the home area, as well as 1,105 seats for away fans. The decision has been taken after consultation has been carried out with the Sports Ground Safety Authority, in addition to the club’s own Safety Advisory Group. Given the fact that supporters stand anyway in those two sections of the ground, it is a move that makes sense for all parties.
@matchdayvlogs Safe Standing in the process of being installed.. #sfc #SaintsFC #Southampton #safestanding ♬ original sound – MatchDayVlogs
Safe standing involves the installation of galvanised steel barriers in front of the seats, meaning that people can stand up and use the barrier as a means of stopping themselves from falling over the seat in front of them in the event that a goal or other exciting moment of action happens during a match. Such seating has already been installed in the likes of Anfield, Old Trafford and the new Everton Stadium, so the Tigers will be joining a long list of illustrious clubs where this safer type of seating is being used. The club will hope that it leads to a better atmosphere moving forward.