With a choice to sit or stand in Denmark, all 4000 Manchester United fans elect to stand at FC Copenhagen, as do about half the home supporters.

The entire Kop stands throughout the Champions League match with Bordeaux . Away fans stand and bounce up an down waving flags.

Around 8000 (both home & away fans) stand as West Ham play Arsenal at Upton Park. After the game the PA plays Twist & Shout, which results in thousands of home fans jumping around and dancing.

Stand Up Sit Down have yet to receive any explanation as to why music which clearly encourages fans to jump around is allowed to be played before, during & after games, yet it is not acceptable for them to stand passively during the match.

Despite some fans being ejected, around two thirds of Manchester City 's support stands for the whole match at Charlton.

Man Utd's entire support stand throughout at Southend.

3000 Hibs fans and around 300 Hearts supporters stand throughout the Edinburgh derby. A public address announcement apparently asks supporters not to stands on seats, but this and stewards said it was OK to stand ion front of them.

Half of Sheffield Wednesday's supporters stand for the whole game at Ipswich .

Southampton supporters complain about heavy handed stewarding at Sunderland , but their 200 still stand for the entire second half.

Around 700 of Wycombe's 850 fans stand throughout at Notts County . The away end holds over 5000, so there was plenty of room for those who wanted to sit to choose seats at the front, and those who wished to stand to go further back. An example of common sense supporter self regulation.

The usual 1200 – 1500 Hibs fans are reported standing as their team plays at home. Around 70 Inverness supporters also stood, with no apparent attempts to get either set of fans to sit.

All 3200 Villa fans stand at Everton.

West Ham supporters are the latest visitors to complain at heavy handed stewarding at Middlesbrough . A West Ham supporter makes the following comments on the stewards:

They were right up for confrontations yesterday - ended up ejecting a lad (14/15yrs if that) who was in the back row of Block 60 - didn't dare go for the grown men.
The situation got very ugly at one point and it was squarely down to heavy-handed tactics on the Authorities part. The crowd had been really good humoured until then - very sad to see.'

All Newcastle 's away support stand throughout the game at Manchester City .

Responding to Jose Mourinho's criticism of Chelsea supporters failing to get behind their team, and opposition chants of ‘four nil and you still don't sing', the Chelsea supporters' forum Blue and White Army puts part of the blame on being forced to sit. An article says:

‘ Added to that, the jobs-worth stewards, carrying out the rules about standing to the letter of the law don't help. No-one who has paid their £650 will want to risk getting suspended or banned for persistent standing.

People just do not sing when sitting in their seats. When supporters have stood to sing - ignoring the orders of stewards - the atmosphere is definitely better but, as stated above, people are loath to do so.'

Following Jose Mourinho's comments CFCnet spokesman Toby Brown speaks out in favour of standing areas, in The London Paper.

Brown is quoted as saying:

‘The Government have had a lot to do with the way they have tried to sanitise football and drive out the fans by imposing seats – causing a hike in proves.

With the –re-introduction of standing areas the clubs could reduce prices and allow these younger, more vocal, guys to return to the game.

We say out in Germany during the World Cup the fans could still stand and there was no trouble.'

The BBC reports new plans for the UK 's first ‘convertible' stadium, to be built on the site of Belfast 's Maze Prison.

The new plan will see a 35,000 seater venue for soccer and rugby, but some seats would be removed to allow up to 12,000 GAA fans to stand.

Whilst welcoming the proposals, Stand Up Sit Down would once again ask why it is considered safe to stand to watch some sports, yet supporters are forced to sit for others, even in this instance, in the same stadium.

Salford 's Rugby League club announce that their new stadium will have a standing area of about 3,000. The club will be announcing a loyalty scheme soon so that fans can guarantee their places in this area (as more than 3000 people currently prefer to stand at games).

Middlesbrough announce that the allocation to visiting Man United supporters is to be cut to 1500 due to persistent standing at previous fixtures.

A Swedish magazine approaches Stand Up Sit Down , and will feature our interview shortly.

Stand Up Sit Down announce that they intend to submit an objection to the Rod Stewart concert planned to be held at City of Manchester Stadium, on the grounds that those attending the concert will be allowed to stand, whereas Manchester City supporters in the same stadium are being ejected and even banned for standing.

The Manchester Evening News carries a report as follows:

Soccer fans make a stand over Rod's stadium show

A GROUP of football fans plan to show the red card to concerts at the City of Manchester Stadium .

Members of Stand Up Sit Down, a campaign that promotes standing at football matches, are objecting to a Rod Stewart concert, planned for next June, on safety grounds and have accused authorities of "gross hypocrisy".

They say that music-lovers who attend concerts are given preferential treatment by being allowed to stand and dance while their football-loving counterparts face ejection if they stand up at matches.

The group is pointing to what they claim are scores of injuries at gigs held at the venue to show concerts are more dangerous than football matches.

They have claimed that at three Oasis performances in 2004 there was an average of 143 injuries per night compared with six per football match.

Spokesman Amanda Matthews said: "Football fans face threats of ejection, bans and stand closures if they persistently stand throughout football matches on lower levels, yet music fans are free to stand and dance throughout the concert at all levels."

She also claimed that the government does not allow football fans to stand in small, purpose-built standing areas, as used in Germany , but will "allow more than 30,000 music fans to stand on the pitch, without any form of crowd control".

Miss Matthews asked: "If it is safe to stand up in all sections of the seated areas for a concert, why is it not safe to do so in the lower tiers during a football match?

"The licensing authorities cannot have it both ways and we intend to challenge the licence being sought to hold this and other concerts."

A council spokesman said: "Any application by Manchester City to hold a concert at the stadium requires the club to submit a detailed plan showing how they will ensure public safety.

"Each event is judged on its merits and safety is always a paramount consideration."

The vast majority of readers comments posed on the paper's website support the principle of standing at football.

The entire lower tier and some upper tier of West Ham's 3000 supporters at Chelsea stand throughout, as do the Chelsea fans in the Shed Lower. Many Chelsea supporters in the Mathew Harding Lower stand for around half the match.

All of Aston Villa's 2700 supporters stand throughout the game at Wigan .

A Stand Up Sit Down spokesman is interviewed by an Italian magazine, interested in our campaign.

Stand Up Sit Down's on line petition reaches 8000 signatures.

A Stand Up Sit Down spokesman appears on Radio Leeds, outlining our proposals and discussing the situation at Elland Road .

Stand Up Sit Down obtain a copy of a paper from the German Football Association, which outlines their conclusions that after carefully considering all the relevant issues, standing areas should be retained. The paper says:

‘…..In the recent period, many people with an interest in football have been asking the DFB to lend their support to the concept of standing areas of a particular size for home and away fans in our stadia: in total no more than 20% [of the ground capacity], with variable capacities for home and away fans. After carefully considering all the relevant issues and the DFB's own concept and holding numerous meetings with representatives of clubs and councils, senior police offices and stewards, representatives of supporters clubs and fan projects, and sociologists and educationalists, we have come to the conclusion that a certain number of standing places should be retained for the following reasons:

1. Safety inside grounds is already guaranteed for the most part by a variety of structural and organisational measures.

2. Violent incidents in standing areas can mainly be attributed to the particular idiosyncrasies and the composition of the spectators there rather than the physical configuration of these areas. The majority of these spectators will not behave any differently in an all-seater stadium.

3. In the long run, abolishing standing areas would make it considerably more difficult, if not impossible, for socially disadvantaged football supporters to attend their team's matches. Football, being a people's sport, should not banish the socially disadvantaged from its stadia, and it should not place its social function in doubt itself.

4. For several years now, self-regulating processes have been in evidence amongst fans in standing areas. These processes seldom render it necessary for the police or stewards to intervene.

5. The climatic conditions in northern, eastern and western Europe are different to those in southern Europe ; spectators are much less willing to use uncovered seating when it is raining or snowing than they are to stand in wintry weather conditions. For economic reasons it will not be possible in many countries to furnish grounds with roofed accommodation in the foreseeable future.

6. Football is culture. It involves not only the spirit of fair play but also the solidarity inspired by a sense of community. For young people, fan culture is an important factor in the development of their personality on the path to gaining independence in an increasingly complex society. From the socio-pedagogic point of view, it is essential that areas where young people can interact are maintained and safeguarded. These include standing areas in football grounds.

7. The young fans on the terraces embody the vibrant world of football. It is here where the atmosphere that attracts millions of people all over the world to our sport is created. It is here where the fans who are the first to cheer their team on and the last to whistle are to be found. Young people live with the emphasis on the physical. They seek and require direct (and physical) contact with their like-minded peers. The terrace is their own miniature world, a place where people from all sections of society meet. Those who do away with standing areas take away a part of these people's lives.

8. In the unanimous opinion of many experts the rigorous removal of all standing areas will lead to many ‘adventure-seeking' young people joining the hooligan scene, with the consequence that the violent clashes outside grounds will continue to increase in both number and brutality. The success of our varied efforts to contribute to a positive change of consciousness in the long term by improving the way in which we look after fans will be placed in serious doubt by this unjustified (from the fans' point of view) intervention in their world.

9. We are now witnessing more and more cases of spectators ignoring seats, which were installed at great expense, and simply standing on them. This is a very dangerous practice, especially in view of the steepness of the terracing often encountered in the bigger grounds.

Based on these considerations the DFB has concluded that for its domestic competitions standing areas for both home and away fans may be retained in the grounds used by professional clubs in the capacity recommended by the DFB Safety Committee in each particular case.

The DFB will continue to pursue and lend its support to this aim.'

Stand Up Sit Down welcome this paper and urge the UK football authorities to adopt a similar common sense approach to standing.

Stand Up Sit Down's online petition reaches 8000 signatures, showing the strength of feeling of supporters on this issue.