Grimsby Town FC in historic safe standing first

April 4th, 2015. The date on which football fans in the UK watched an official game of football standing at rail seats for the first time ever. An historic event in the safe standing campaign that took place at Blundell Park, Grimsby.

As Grimsby Town fought out a 2-2 draw with visitors Gateshead, a group of Mariners fans made history: standing on the safe standing roadshow set up pitchside at Blundell Park, they became the first football supporters ever to watch a game in the UK football pyramid standing behind sturdy rail seats.

The event was organised by Grimsby Town stadium manager Nick Dale, who wanted to let all key stakeholders, including fans and the media, see rail seats 'in the flesh', as the club looks into a potential installation of such seats in one block of the Pontoon Stand later this year.

The demonstration of safe standing attracted lots of interest from the club's supporters, as well as media attention from BBC Look North (East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire), who featured the event as their lead story on their evening news bulletin.

The club now plans to continue discussions with supporters and the relevant authorities before taking a final decision on potentially blazing a trail as the first UK club to install 'Bundesliga-style' rail seats for safe standing, perhaps as soon as summer 2015.