Now Chelsea Game Could Fall Foul Of Snow

By VIC CRESCIT Whether our game against Chelsea at the Grove on Monday will go ahead or not is an open question at the moment. Given the propensity of the Metropolitan Police and Islington Council to put pressure on the club to call off games at the first snow flake I wouldn’t bank on the match going ahead. 

Contrast this to Germany. There the local councils get out and grit and re-grit the roads and pavements as necessary. All clubs in the top two divisions bar one have undersoil heating or pitch protection of one sort or another. True, Germany’s climate, without the influence of the North Atlantic Drift which makes Britain’s weather so variable tends to much colder, snowier winters than in the south of our sceptred isle. 

Climate change is likely to mean our climate becoming more akin to that of our northern European neighbours however with warmer summers and colder, snowier winters. It’s normal for middle aged men like me to be developing Victor Meldrew syndrome in our advancing years. I frequently find myself muttering, “I don’t believe it!” these days. It is however the case that we seem to have lost our ability to treat ourselves as adults and cope with a little snow and cold. 

I graphically recall the Boxing Day home game against Southampton in the 1970/71 Double season. For once the electric blanket under the Highbury pitch let us down and blew up. The game still went ahead with the lines on the pitch being swept clear and painted blue instead of white to stand out against the snow covering the rest of the pitch. The game was played with an orange rather than a white ball for similar reasons. 

One of my graphic memories of that Arctic morning (Boxing Day and New Year’s Day games used to kick-off at the unearthly hour of 11.30am then) is the Southampton centre-half John McGrath playing with his jersey sleeves rolled right up to the top of his arms. All he was missing was a packet of fags tucked in one rolled sleeve. McGrath was a real old-fashioned cave-man British centre-back. He proceeded to kick our centre-forward John Radford up hill and down Highbury dale. These days the referees (rightly) wouldn’t stand for it. The pendulum may have swung too far against physical contact these days but then players could get away almost literally with murder. 

Combined with excellent goalkeeping by a Scottish goalie called Eric Martin who for some reason never got even close to being capped by his native land (there was a real prejudice in Scotland against so-called “Anglos” – Scottish players who played south of the border -  in those far-off days), the Saints managed a goalless draw. We then all trooped home to warm up in front of the fire. 

I’m absolutely sure that four decades on at the dawn of the 21^st century’s second decade that game would have been postponed under pressure from the council and police. Absolute nonsense, as Germany demonstrates. There they treat football fans like adults. Bundesliga fans are allowed to make their own decisions about whether they wish to venture out in the cold, snow and ice to watch their team. Quite right too. 

Another area where fans are treated like adults in Germany is how they wish to watch the match. In German domestic games all the grounds have safe standing areas. Fans can choose to watch the match from a seat or standing as they prefer. This basic concept of choice is spreading to Austria, Canada and the USA. 

Bath Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster has recently proposed a Bill in the House of Commons under the so-called “Ten Minute Rule” to permit clubs and their fans to make the same common-sense, adult choice about whether to have safe standing areas at their grounds as they do in Germany. I’ve written to my MP Emily Thornberry asking her to back this Bill. 

I personally prefer to sit these days, and have since I gave up my standing season ticket on the old North Bank of blessed memory at the end of the 1987/88 season, a large part of which I spent living and working in South America. A friend used my season ticket whilst I was away. I took up a season ticket in the old East Stand Upper Tier. 

I can see no reason whatsoever why fans at the Grove today shouldn’t have the same choice that I had to sit or stand in safety and comfort. All of the specious arguments that standing is inherently more unsafe that sitting to watch a match have been knocked down one by one. Opponents of adult choice have now moved the goal-posts. They now say that standing promotes disorder, excludes women and children and that it would be too expensive to retro-fit grounds with safe standing enclosures. 

The first argument is nonsense. Where standing areas still exist or has been introduced in Football Leagues One and Two, non-league football, Germany, Canada the USA, research shows that it is extremely popular with both women and younger fans. Anyway, nobody is saying standing would become compulsory, merely a choice to be exercised by each supporter. 

There is nil evidence that standing promotes disorder. Finally, cost. What has that got to do with the Government or Parliament? It’s an issue for the clubs and their supporters. The last time Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA) polled Gooners on this issue there was overwhelming support for a safe choice, both amongst those who’d personally prefer to stand if offered a choice, and those, like me, who prefer to sit. 

If you support the choice to sit or stand to watch the match as you prefer, you can do two things:

1. Write to your local MP if you live in Great Britain or Northern Ireland. You can find out who they are and how to contact them by simply going to: http://www.writetothem.org and typing in your home postcode;

 2.     Join the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) by going to: http://www.fsf.org.uk/join.php

Membership is free, although donations to support the FSF’s work are always very welcome.

Keep the faith! 

vic@arsenalinsider.com

Vic Crescit

More Posts