The law about standing at football

Following on from tragic events during the 1980’s the football terraces were outlawed by law to be replaced by all seater stadiums.

The Taylor Report recommended that all professional football divisions in England and Wales phase out the usual concrete terraces and to become all-seater. This was later amended to be enforced on the top two divisions only.

The Football Spectators Act of 1989 required that:

• All stadiums must be all seater
• There must be appropriate segregation of rival sets of supporters
• There must be appropriate amounts of stewards in specific areas of the stadiums
• The club security must work in accordance with the Police in providing access to certain areas of the stadium – for example the main control room
• The smoking ban extends to all areas of a football stadium – Smoke-free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations
• No alcohol can be drunk in sight of the pitch

It is widely believed by some that standing at a football match is illegal but this is not the case, even within Premier League and Championship grounds. The law only provides that these clubs should provide seats for all supporters, not that supporters must sit on them. The point was confirmed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2008 was said: ‘At no point has it been argued that the individual spectator commits a criminal offence by standing in a seated area’

However, standing in seated areas, is contrary to the model ground regulations adopted by the Premier League.

They say:  ‘Nobody may stand in any seating area whilst play is in progress. Persistent standing in seated areas whilst play is in progress is strictly forbidden and may result in ejection from the ground’.

The Football Supporters Federation (FSF) argue it is notable that the two rules are contradictory, the first bars all ‘standing’, the second only ‘persistent standing’. In practice, standing to go to the toilet or snack bar and standing at ‘moments of excitement’ is permitted. The boundary between ‘moments of excitement’ and ‘persistent’ is rather grey and open to wide interpretation. 

In West Ham’s case this is an issue between the stadium operator and supporters. The ground regulations of a stadium (including the ban on persistent standing) form a contract between the supporter and the stadium operator. Entering the stadium is a tacit agreement to accept the ground regulations. By standing, the supporter is in breach of that contract. This is a civil, not a criminal matter. Therefore, a supporter cannot be arrested simply for standing. For that reason, it is not a matter that the police should be involved in, unless (for example) a supporter assaults a steward asking to get people to sit down; that would be a criminal offence.

The enforcement of the ground regulations is solely the responsibility of London Stadium 185 Ltd, the French operator appointed by the stadium owners, E20 Stadium LLP jointly owned by Newham Council and London Legacy Development Corporation. (LLDC).