Hundreds of supporters stand in bars and around the ground throughout the Essex v Hampshire 20.20 cricket match at Chelmsford . The PA urged people to start Mexican waves, which meant supporters jumping from their seats, even in the upper tier.

Standing is reported at other 20.20 matches, yet despite there being no one ‘fixed point of focus' the Government do not appear concerned about standing unless it is at football matches.

Stand Up Sit Down are sent a report and photos of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concerts of City of Manchester stadium, which illustrates the difference between stewarding at football matches and concerts, held in the same venue.

‘I ended up watching the gig in a cushioned seat right in front of the exec boxes at the back of the Main Stand. Those in the exec boxes simply stood outside their box and drank and waffled and ate their sandwiches......

As you can see from the pics 4 and 6, fans were using the gangways to sit and stand. There was a steward 3 steps back stood there for the whole gig and didn't once ask them to move off the steps or sit down. You can see on some of the pics that there were empty seats next to where they were sat yet they were just left alone. The couple are first sat in front of the crash bar over the exit and then stood up. They were there for an hour without any comment from stewards and then moved further to the front of the stand.

The girl to their right sat on the step for the whole gig. Towards the end (and it was dark so couldn't get a pic) 2 other women sat next to her and blocked the whole gangway. One guy tried to pass from behind but couldn't (the fan was so pissed she couldn't even stand up without her boyfriend holding her when the gig finished) so the steward came, tapped her on the shoulder asking to let the man through..... NOT TO MOVE COMPLETELY!

Pic 3 is a shot of fans standing down the aisle, on both sides of an exit point. In the middle of the exit at the top of the stairs you can clearly see the steward with his bib on. Fans were standing around the exit for the entire gig with stewards walking up and down throughout not saying a dicky bird.

The plastic bottle throwing on the pitch made the Oasis gigs look like a Sunday School outing. In between the first and second band, a circle developed and fans on the edge of the circle pelted each other with bottles (some containing liquids so me not) for around 20 minutes without any attempt to stop it.

Between the second band and the RHCP in the same place and the same people the scenario happened again this time lasting around 30 minutes. Fun for those involved but maybe not for those unable to escape from the area.

I witnessed two bottles being thrown from the front of the stand hitting female fans on the head and in one of the cases she was clearly distressed and hurt and her boyfriend led her away in tears. In both of the cases, the culprits were not apprehended.'

England supporters receive much praise from the media for their behaviour at the World Cup. Many thousands stood at every game, showing again that standing is not generally portrayed as bad behaviour and that it does not lead to disorder.

Stand Up Sit Down make contact with an organisation ‘Safe Concerts', who aim to improve safety at concerts. Their representative says:

‘Many thanks for your e-mail – nice to hear from you. I have to confess that I'm not a football supporter and so have little idea about arrangements at stadiums and would be interested to know more. Isn't it ironic that fans can stand at concerts yet not at games?

Having said that there are a number of problems with the free for all at major concerts and it is only a matter of time before there is a major incident – particularly with the current trend for aggression and rioting. Even so – I would hate to see all seated at these events, there just needs to be better crowd management and better attention to detail – always difficult when it's all about the money.'

‘There is so much burying the head in the sand it beggars belief – for example increasing capacity at Reading and Leeds when it is known that there are problems and that capacity calculations are flawed. If things continue as they are there will no doubt be a major incident – what's worse is that the powers that be are well aware of the hot spots.

Isn't it interesting that you heard about problems at Take That? All very hushed up and the Council totally deny that there were any problems at all.

I think that overall standing is safe BUT there needs to be more control in place to stop front of stage crushing which is quite a problem – I think numbers need to be restricted.'

We agree to keep in contact and explore any areas where the two campaigns can work together.

As the World Cup ends large numbers of fans were noted to be standing in the knockout stage matches, although the large number of corporate tickets and limited allocation to participating countries, lead to a more muted atmosphere at the final.

No problems of poor behaviour from supporters in stadiums are reported, showing yet again that the view that standing will lead to disorder is incorrect

At a Fans Forum Wycombe Wanderers chairman says that the club have submitted plans to increase capacity and that they intend to expand the terrace behind the goal.

A Stand Up Sit Down member receives a reply from Conservative Sports' spokesman Hugh Robertson to his letter regarding standing areas.

Mr Robertson says that he would support a new debate but a Conservative government would not make any changes without the support of the police and football authorities.

Stand Up Sit Down are sent a copy of a letter sent by an Ipswich supporters to the club explaining that he will not be renewing his season ticket because there is no choice to stand at Portman Road.

A poll off supporters asking what one change they would like to see to improve football shows that the most popular change, with 34% of the votes, would be to re-introduce standing areas.

Second, with 25%, was to clamp down on diving and third, with 18%, was to play all matches at 3pm on Saturdays.

Many supporters stand at Leicester 's 20.20 cricket quarter final at Grace Road . Over 6000 tickets were sold and as Leicestershire captain said, there are not 6,000 seats at the ground. This lead to well over a thousand people standing leading to a superb atmosphere and great singing, celebrations.

Once again Stand Up Sit Down would ask why cricket clubs are allowed to sell more tickets than they have seats and why standing is permitted at other sports, but not football.

Stand Up Sit Down are contacted by a new Arsenal supporters organisation who have posted a link to us on their website. They say:

‘We're delighted to feature a link for your website as we believe the majority of our members and target audience very much believe in standing at football matches.

 When the website's completed, we'll start looking at hosting
atmosphere-related articles including your own and we estimate this to be at the end of August. We've still got plenty of content and coding to fine tune but when that's finished, we can email you and arrange a feature.

I must say, the first couple of visits to the new stadium have been strange and remind us how much we're going to miss Highbury in the coming years but I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit as it's a truly world-class stadium!

Regards,

The REDaction team.

The Football Licensing Authority's annual report and report on injury statistics for the 2004/5 season are published.

The report acknowledges that there has been disappointing progress in stopping persistent standing. It also expresses concern that safety does not feature highly among the priorities of some club chairman.

The injury statistics fail to give any meaningful comparison between standing and seated supporters, despite the FLA and Government frequently stating that lower injury figures are a justification for not allowing standing areas.

The FLA reports will be covered in more detail in our August news section. There is also further information and discussion on our forum.

Spurs programme for a pre-season friendly contains a long piece about persistent standing. It is headed ‘Safety at the Lane' yet the text explaining why supporters should not stand fails to make any mention of safety. Supporters suggest that this may be because the club do not view standing in seated areas as a significant safety issue.

Sky TV agree to cover the Stand Up Sit Down campaign and contrast the difference between football and concerts in an item to be shown shortly.