Stand United: Rail Seating Fan Survey 2021
Results show strong support for rail seating and safe standing at the Lane
Surveying United fans
Throughout 2021, a number of clubs installed rail seating - including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Cardiff City. Added to this, following a long-standing campaign by the Football Supporters Association, the Government announced that clubs with rail seating could apply to trial safe standing in these areas from 2022.
This survey was set up to help provide a picture of Sheffield United fans’ views on rail seating and safe standing - and whether United should join the growing list of clubs to bring rail seating in. It launched through Google Forms on 22 September 2021 and closed on 12 October after reaching 500 responses. Several free text comments are added below.
88% of fans want to see rail seating installed at the Lane
Fans were shown examples of rail seating installed at Celtic Park and Anfield, and provided with background information on rail seating, including a link to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority report on the effects of rail seating.
371 fans were very supportive and 71 supportive of introducing rail seating at Bramall Lane in the near future. Only 20 were against this, with a further 12 strongly against.
9 in 10 fans want to pilot safe standing at the Lane
At the time of the survey, Premier League and Championship clubs were set to be invited to apply to trial safe standing in pilot form in 2021/22. Four clubs in the Premier League and one in the Championship will be the first to trial licenced safe standing areas.
388 fans said that they would definitely want United to also trial this in the next two seasons, with a further 68 potentially wanting this. Only 18 indicated they would definitely not support a trial of this, with 19 also feeling they would probably not support it.
Rail seating at the Lane popular across all ages
We were interested to see if the support shown for rail seating significantly varied depending on age. In the results, there was strong support across all age groups, with over 90% of fans surveyed aged between 18 and 44 supportive.
Support is lowest for those aged 65 and above, though this was still over 63%.
While those under 18 were very supportive, this was an age group where we had the fewest respondents. A full breakdown of who responded is available at the bottom of this page.
Support for rail seats high - be it in existing areas or future developments
Fans were asked two questions to find out their support for two scenerios where rail seating with:
where parts of existing seating could be replaced with rail seats
where rail seating could form part of any new developments, such as if a new stand or an extension to a current stand is built
While the results show high support for both options, the most supportive fans (367) were clear that they want the club to go ahead with rail seating now in existing areas.
The Kop viewed as natural home for rail seating
Fans were asked to assume rail seating was in some form to be introduced and select the areas they feel would be the best place for it. In a clear message, 453 fans said the Kop was the stand most suited for rail seating.
The Tony Currie Stand was a distant second, with 119 fans suggesting rail seating could also be installed here.
Fans that expanded on their choices in free text were more specific (e.g. back of the Kop, Bramall Lane end of the Tony Currie Stand), and also highlighted that the Bramall Lane Lower should be in the conversation.
Most fans want more than just a token number of rail seats
Similarly, fans were asked for their thoughts on how many rail seats there should be if the club were to introduce this in the future, based on a proportion of the overall ground capacity.
289 of the 500 fans surveyed want the club to install at least 3,250 seats. In real terms, that would roughly be about a third of the Kop’s capacity.
Nearly half of fans would be encouraged to attend with rail seating
We were interested to find out whether fans thought the introduction of rail seating would change behaviour and impact whether they would or would not want to watch United.
Most responses were split between this making them more likely to attend (247) and a slightly lower number that suggested it would make no difference to them (218).
Majority of fans feel rail seating will improve atmosphere
Similarly, we wanted to know whether fans felt rail seating might have an impact on the Bramall Lane atmosphere.
432 of the 500 fans surveyed felt that this would improve the atmosphere, of whom 282 believe it would greatly improve with rail seating installed.
Only 9 fans felt that this would worsen atmosphere at games.
Nearly half of fans feel the club is unlikely to fund safe standing
This campaign has been set up to bring rail seating and safe standing to Bramall Lane, but we know this will not necessarily be a simple, quick, or easy process. We wanted to get a sense of where fans feel the barriers might be that Stand United will have to tackle.
Asked at a time not long after the club returned to the Championship, and after fans returned to unrestricted games from the previous season, club finances were highlighted as a key factor, with 228 fans feeling the club is unlikely to fund any ground developments at the moment.
Over a quarter of fans feel that season ticket holders in areas affected may be the main barrier, while 97 fans suggest that the City Council is the biggest concern.
Over half of fans willing to help fund rail seating introduction
In the survey, fans were given an example where some clubs, for example Shrewsbury Town, used crowd-sourced funding to help fund rail seating so it could be trialled at their grounds. In the event the club was unwilling to fund rail seating right now, they were asked for their thoughts on a similar initiative.
A majority of fans (274) suggested they would be possibly or definitely interested in part-funding a move to rail seating. 198 fans suggested they would not.
What Fans Are Saying
“It is important to ensure that people who prefer to sit are accommodated. I am a season ticket holder and often attend games straight after work and don’t want to stand. If this is trialed, the club should allow season ticket holders to change their seat both into and out of the affected areas.”
— Season ticket holder on the Tony Currie Stand (18-24yo)
“The back 6 or so rows of the kop stand anyway, so why not make it safer to do so? That, for me, would be the perfect area to try it.”
— SUFC member of staff attending in the John Street Family Stand (35-44yo)
“Bring it in. I have attended over 45 matches in Germany and rail seating / safe standing makes the atmosphere absolutely electric.”
— Season ticket holder on the Kop (18-24yo)
“I currently sit in the Westfield Upper. If safe standing was introduced to the Kop, I'd definitely move my ticket there. It’d also greatly improve the atmosphere at the Lane, and I think safe standing if done right would be a great addition to the match day experience.”
— Season ticket holder on the Westfield Corner (25-34yo)
“There needs to be some very clear, concise information from the club about how safe standing could/would work. Not everyone seems to appreciate that it's absolutely nothing like the old terraces.”
— Season ticket holder on the Kop (45-54yo)
“…views are restricted across the Kop with some choosing to stand and others sit. It makes most sense to have the rail seating at the back of the Kop so that those who want to sit can do so without the worry of a restricted view. I sit near the pitch, but would like to have rail seating at some point.”
— Season ticket holder on the Kop (18-24yo)
Who responded
This survey was designed to be as short as possible, so the information on respondents is basic but has allowed us to see if there are any clear differences in responses. Above we have broken down rail seating support by age - drop us a message if you’re interested in any of the other question breakdowns by respondent type.