Celtic Become First British Club To Introduce Safe Standing

Celtic Park has become the first ground in Britain to introduce safe standing.

Following the completion, and after lengthy negotiations, it now houses 2,600 standing fans ahead of the new Scottish Premier League season. The new seating represents a small section in the 60,000 seater stadium.

Despite having two previous applications rejected, they were granted a license 12-months ago as the Scottish champions revealed the new rail seating section on their Twitter:

They've received praise from Peter Draykin the Football Safe Federation's safe standing campaign coordinator, saying; "Celtic deserve praise for being brave enough to pursue this and for listening to its fans."

While chief executive Peter Lawwell expressed his delight on the realisation of the safe standing and the permission granted by the City Council; "Celtic has worked tirelessly on this issue and we are delighted that this permission has finally been granted. The introduction of rail seating at Celtic Park represents an investment in spectator safety. Across football globally, the reality is that some supporters are choosing to stand at matches. This is something we must accept and manage and also understand the positive effect which these areas have on atmosphere at matches."

It's believed that the section which was been converted has cost an estimated half-million. If the practice becomes successful it could result in English clubs following suit. There could be safe standing at a ground near you very soon.

Topics: Celtic

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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