Cristoph Biermann writes in The Observer, saying:

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the president of Bayern Munich, declared in a recent interview that winning the Bundesliga was the real achievement in German football, the 'most genuine' triumph available to the clubs. Far more genuine, Rummenigge remarked, than winning the Champions League, a competition that left him feeling 'empty'. Why? 'The competition is not fair in Europe any more.'
In a Germany engulfed by World Cup madness, what Rummenigge said interested nobody, as everyone is more concerned with the state of the national team's defence. Nevertheless, Rummenigge's observations are noteworthy because it says a lot about the condition of German football that the biggest, richest and most powerful club in the country have declared themselves unable to compete in and win the Champions League.

How can that be when the stadiums in Germany are full, and not just during a World Cup? In the season just gone there were, on average, 38,191 fans at every game: more than in any other league in the world.

In Germany , football - and there is still a broad consensus on this - is regarded as the people's sport. Earlier this year the German clubs refused an offer from a pay-TV provider, despite there being more money on offer, because the highlights on free television would start later. They will still be shown next season on Saturdays at 6.30pm .

The thinking also goes that no fan should be priced out. The average cost of a ticket in the Bundesliga is slightly less than £13 and there are many cheaper than that. A Bayern Munich season ticket for their 17 home league games next season costs about £82. That is for standing, which you can still do in every stadium in Germany .

Many fans campaigned at the start of the 1990s for the preservation of standing room and received support from several managers and club chief executives. Therefore the standing areas of the 12 World Cup venues and other stadiums where international games are played were expensively converted for seating. After the World Cup, the south stand in Dortmund 's ground will, with 24,000 places, once more be the biggest standing area in Europe .

After Fifa's occupying forces have left town, all stadiums will again have good beer and sausages. Because although most of the stadiums are modern and equipped with exalted levels of hospitality, traditional aspects of going to a game still dominate. That goes for singing as well, although not especially for the national team, which has a different sort of fan base.

Different also is the fact that younger fans in Germany don't look to their England counterparts so much now, but to the splendid shows in the stands in southern Europe or South America . Thus they call themselves Ultras.

But German football is not one happy island of social democracy in the stormy waters of neo-liberalism. There is a conflict in this country between the wishes of VIP clients and the needs of the normal fan. Sometimes it leads to funny clashes, such as the guests in corporate boxes at Werder Bremen whose view on to the pitch was restricted because the fans were waving their flags in front of them.

After protests from their fans, Bayern were forced to change the colour of their sponsored shirts. Even the sale of naming rights of stadiums leads to indignation. For a few weeks now, the World Cup venue in Nuremberg has been known, bizarrely, as the 'Easycredit Stadium', after a bank loan. Better still is the case of the east German fifth division side Bischofswerda 08, who now play in the Simudt Wood Suppliers Arena.

Despite FIFA having said for at least a year that all World Cup tickets would have names on and only that person would be able to use them to gain entry to the ground, John Motson in his commentary on England v Paraguay said that there were no such checks and intimated that it would not have been possible to do.

Stand Up Sit Down would suggest that as with the FA Cup final, the whole ticketing for the World Cup is a farce. England had 5,000 allocation an estimated 35,000 in the ground today. Fans are being ripped off and segregation non existent.

We would ask why it appears that FIFA don't see this as a safety or security concern, yet in the UK fans are being banned simply for standing.

Widespread standing is noted at the opening World Cup matches, partially in sections where fans purchased tickets from their country's official allocation.

As the World Cup continues thousands of fans are standing to watch matches on big screens across England and the whole of Europe .

BBC TV's Look North West programme features many complaints about safety and stewarding at the Take That concert held at City of Manchester Stadium .

There were many complaints of over crowding and people feeling unsafe. The ‘Gold Area' was said to have exceeded capacity yet several people reported stewards telling them to push their way to the front.

Further reports of problems are shown on the website of the organisation ‘Safe Concerts'.

After problems at last summer's concerts at City of Manchester Stadium, the Football Supporters Federation produced a comprehensive report, yet for 12 months they have failed to get Manchester City Council to show any interest in paying due attention to this. The council have maintained that they are happy with safety arrangements for concerts at COMS, yet problems have again arisen this year.

This contrast to football at the same venue, where Manchester City supporters have been ejected and even banned, simply for standing during matches. Action which has been forced on the club by the same council that appears unconcerned by standing and dancing in upper tiers for concerts, and with inadequate crowd control in the standing areas.

Many thousands of England fans stand throughout the World Cup last 16 match with Ecuador . Supporters report that no efforts were made to get them to sit.

Stand Up Sit Down receive a reply from the FA to our letter to Brian Barwick.

The letter from Glenn Lavery, FA Customer relations says:

‘It is clear and right that the safety of supporters must take precedence over all other issues'.

‘With regards to the FA Cup Final, a request was made on the back of the match ticket for fans to remain seated at all times, i.e. around the stadium. However, as I'm sure you can appreciate, this would be very difficult for stewards to implement and maintain when large numbers of fans refuse to co-operate'.

‘I can assure you that al concerned with safety in football grounds are doing what they can to solve the problem, but if supporters are determined to stand up, experience has shown that it is very difficult for the club stewards and/or police to get them to remain seated throughout the game. Deploying stewards or police to eject possibly large numbers of supporters could provoke an even greater threat to the safety of spectators and the stewards/police.'

‘For this season's FA Cup Final, approximately 68% of saleable capacity was allocated to the competing clubs.'

‘1.2% of tickets were allocated to The FA's Partners (Umbro, Carlsberg, McDonalds, Nationwide and Pepsi) and approximately 6% of tickets were available via corporate hospitality.'

‘The FA aims to make as many tickets as possible available to supporters of both participating clubs, whilst ensuring that people involved with running football at all levels have the opportunity to share in football's showpiece event.'

‘ County FA tickets are sold for personal use only and as tickets contain the name of the County, should this ticket be sold on the black market, the County could face severe consequences'.

‘Whilst I appreciate this response may not have alleviated your concerns, I hope I have made our position clear and can only apologise for your FA Cup Final experience.'

Stand Up Sit Down would comment that it is becoming increasingly clear that safety is not the real issue with regard to standing, but appears to be a very convenient smokescreen for the Government and authorities to hide behind.

We note that twice in the letter the FA say how difficult it is to get supporters to sit, which supports the view of Stand Up Sit Down and many others involved in football, that the current regulations are unworkable.

We note that County FA tickets are for personal use only, but would point out that many thousands of Liverpool and West Ham fans obtained tickets for the ‘neutral' areas at the cup final.

Stand Up Sit Down are disappointed that we appear to have been sent a standard or semi standard letter. We are aware of another supporter who received a very similar letter from the FA, and the final sentence of the letter apologising for ‘your FA Cup Final experience' rather gives this away. Our letter was sent prior to the final and did not complain about experience of the day.

Stand Up Sit Down write back to the FA saying:

Re. FA Cup Final / Taylor Report

Thank you for your reply to my letter of 30 th April, although I was disappointed that you did not answer some of the main points raised in the letter and that your reply appeared to be a standard letter, very similar to that sent to other supporters. I would comment as follows:

1. Ticket Allocation

Whilst I appreciate that the FA wish to reward the people who support grassroots football, the large number of Liverpool and West Ham fans in the ‘neutral areas' at the Millennium Stadium clearly showed yet again that many prefer to sell their tickets, rather than to attend a match in which they do not support either side. We are aware of people in grassroots football who received tickets, but say they would much prefer to receive funding for facilities such as hot showers, goal posts or improved pitches.

It is easy to say that FA tickets are for personal use only, but to pretend that many will not be sold on, often at highly inflated prices, is a refusal to face up to the reality that happens every year. The reception that FA officials received from supporters of both teams at Cardiff demonstrated that supporters are not happy with the way the cup final is handled, and that it is high time for a review of ticket policy.

The main point I wish to make is that one of the recommendations of the Taylor Report was that ticket touting should be made illegal, and legislation to this effect was introduced in 1994, but that by its policy of allocating only around two thirds of the FA Cup final tickets to the participating clubs, the FA is effectively fuelling the supply of tickets to touts, which is contrary to at least the spirit of the Taylor Report.

2. Standing

As I predicted in my letter, large numbers of West Ham and Liverpool fans stood throughout the FA Cup final.

I note that in your letter you twice explained that it is very difficult for police or stewards to get supporters who are determined to stand up, to remain seated. This reinforces what I said in my original letter, that the football authorities, Football Licensing Authority, local authorities and clubs have made great efforts to stop persistent standing, but are clearly unable to prevent this. It is clear that the current regulation is unworkable and time for all concerned to accept this and to reach a solution

It is easy to hide behind ‘safety', and whilst I agree that reasonable safety must take precedence, there are few people, including many club safety officers, who believe that standing in lower tiers is unsafe. If standing in seated areas was unsafe, surely it would not be permitted at the many concerts being held in football grounds this summer. If it is unsafe simply to stand during the game, why does the public address play music which encourages supporters to jump around after the match?

As I said in my original letter, a new approach is required, which will prevent those who wish to sit from having their view blocked, and allow some supporters to stand and help generate the atmosphere that is such a big part of our game.

  We believe that if those with influence within the game, and notably the FA, were to approach the Government explaining the situation that the current regulations are unworkable, and proposing a more realistic and workable solution, they would be open to discussion. We cannot continue with the current situation that is unsatisfactory for supporters, causes considerable problems to clubs, leads to conflict with stewards and in which all the bodies involved can dodge the issue by saying that others do not wish to change.

We hope that the FA will be prepared to take a realistic view of this whole standing issue, which is very important to many supporters.

Stand Up Sit Down represents many supporters who feel very strongly on this issue and works closely with the Football Supporters Federation , who have given us their full backing. We aim to work with all concerned to help reach a solution to this issue and as I said in my letter, and we would be very pleased to meet with you to discuss this in more detail.

I enclose a further copy of my original letter and would appreciate a full and personal reply from the FA.

Thank you.

A Stand Up Sit Down member and Manchester City supporter who wrote to Stuart Pearce asking for his support for our campaign receives the following reply:

Dear

Thank you for your letter concerning the "Stand Up Sit Down" Campaign which I received last season. I apologise for not responding more quickly.

I am aware that this is an issue you have raised on numerous occasions here with the Club officials including our Chief Executive, Alistair Mackintosh.

Alistair, on behalf of the club, has expressed some sympathy with you - particularly on the element of improving the atmosphere at football grounds. While I also sympathise, I share Alistair's view that your grievances should be raised at a political level. Manchester City has also made it clear to any of our supporters, including yourself, who have raised the standing issue - that there is no appetite for change amongst the football authorities, including The Premier League and The Football Association.

Consequently, I do not feel it would be appropriate to give my support to your campaign.

Yours Sincerely

Stuart Pearce
Manager

Whilst Stand Up Sit Down are pleased that Stuart Pearce has not said anything opposing standing, and shows sympathy for the need to improve atmosphere in grounds, it is disappointing that he does not feel able to give his support to our campaign.

As the 20.20 cricket competition starts, once again significant numbers of supporters are seen standing.

At Chelmsford hundreds stand as Essex play Hampshire, and the public address announcer urges supporters to start Mexican waves. These go round the ground, with even supporters in the upper tier jumping to their feet.

Stand Up Sit Down would once again question why it is OK to stand in areas of cricket grounds, and why Mexican waves are encouraged even in upper tiers, yet at football grounds supporters are ejected for simply standing in lower tiers.