Published: Thursday, 7th May, 2009 11:25am

Pars fans' stand wins Holyrood backing

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FANS who want to stand up for the Pars have scored a victory after MSPs agreed to look at the return of 'safe standing areas' to SPL grounds.

Backed by a petition with around 2400 signatures, Stephen Taylor, of the Pars Supporters Trust, made the case at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

But although the Holyrood public petitions committee has now asked Scottish football authorities to consider re-introducing terracing, and the idea is backed by the Dunfermline board, it may not benefit Pars fans.

However, Taylor is hopeful that the 'German solution' or allowing fans to stand in the old enclosure will re-introduce some atmosphere at home games.

He said, 'The club is on-side with us, I asked them specifically at last week"s AGM and they said they back the campaign but their hands are tied financially.

'They"d have to spend money on ripping seats out and then putting them back in if we get promoted and I understand that.

'It"s really some of the other clubs that may benefit from this but we have thought about below the main stand, in what were the enclosures.

'Is that an area they could rip seats out to make a standing area?'

He added that German clubs have areas of terracing and explained, 'They"ve got some huge parts of the ground, such as at Dortmund and Schalke, in a traditional Kop-style that they can convert.

'The design of the seats mean they can lock in place but they can also be lifted out to create a standing area.

'German fans are very vociferous and loud supporters and some even get issued with flags which are kept at the ground.

'They make a real effort to create atmosphere and all-seated stadia have certainly impacted on how vociferous fans are here.'

Option

The petition calls on 'the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to re-introduce safe standing areas at SPL football stadia to give professional clubs the option to have seated or standing areas at their football grounds'.

It also argues, 'Why can supporters stand in large crowds at rugby grounds, the Open golf championship, horse racing tracks, music festivals/concerts or underground railway stations?

'Why is football made an exception?'

Taylor said, 'We"ve been flagging up the case of Ross County, Queen of the South and Morton, teams in our league who, if promoted, would be forced to spend a lot of money to meet criteria on extra seats that most of the time they won"t need.

'Especially in the current climate, that"s nonsense.'

He added, 'There are problems already with fans standing up and blocking the view of people behind them – we"re starting to see that at East End Park and it"s caused some friction.

'We"re looking at safe standing, probably quite limited, and we don"t really see it going back to the days of full size terraces or opposing fans standing next to each other.'

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP John Park, who is also the brother-in-law of Pars star Greg Shields, has backed the campaign which has been supported by fans throughout Scotland.

A similar campaign is ongoing in England.

Taylor said, 'It was quite a nerve-wracking experience at the parliament but I think it was a victory as we got a very good hearing from them.

'The committee are going to be writing, via the Scottish Government, to the SFA and we"re trying to get included on the agenda for Henry McLeish"s review of football.

'I don"t underestimate the challenge we"ve got as there are some fairly entrenched views within the football authorities.

'They don"t want to go back to the days of the Old Firm matches having terracing, but that"s where the German solution could come in.'