Taken from the Football Licensing Authority website;
Following the Hillsborough Disaster, the government accepted the recommendation of Lord Justice’s Taylor’s inquiry that grounds in the top two divisions should become all-seated. The Inquiry’s conclusion that, while “there is no panacea which will achieve total safety and cure all problems of behaviour and crowd control, seating does more to achieve these objectives than any other single measure”, has been proved to be correct.
It is generally accepted that Premiership and Football League grounds are safer, more comfortable and more civilised that they were ten or twelve years ago, though the FLA recognise that not all the changes have found favour with all spectators.
The
injury statistics that we have collected and published for the past few seasons strongly suggest that a spectator is less likely to be injured at an all-seated ground than at one that retains standing accommodation. This has remained true even since standing terraces were required to be upgraded to a prescribed standard, though the difference has reduced. While we have made standing much safer, it is still not as safe as sitting.
There are, moreover, a significant number of practical reasons against reintroducing standing terraces at our all-seated grounds. The conversion of all or part of a seating deck to standing accommodation would raise all sorts of complicated design and engineering issues relating to the gradient, the row depth, the viewing standards, the dynamic movement of the deck and the dynamics of the crowd. As a generality, it would require more space (hence a lower capacity) and spectators would have to be further away from the pitch to obtain an adequate view. It would also constrain the size and design of any concourses.
Moreover, standing accommodation may not be used for any international, Champions League or UEFA Cup match. During the 2006 World Cup all the stadia in Germany will be required to be all seated.
The Minister for Sport has stated publicly that the government will not abandon its all-seater policy unless compelling evidence is produced that it is no longer necessary.