Learn how safe standing transformed the fan experience at San Mamés Stadium in this insightful interview with Oscar Malo, the Director of Infrastructure at Athletic Club. Discover the seamless integration process, insights on safety regulations, and the impact on stadium atmosphere. A must-read for clubs considering safe standing!

Oscar Malo, Director of infrastructure Athletic Club 

The introduction of safe standing at San Mamés not only improved the safety of fans, but also improved the atmosphere in those sections. In an interview with ESSMA, Oscar Malo Jesus elaborated on the process of introducing Safe Standing at San Mamés.  

 Safe standing can help imrove both the safety and the atmosphere in your stadium.

ESSMA: Was safe standing directly introduced when you built the new stadium or was it retrofitted afterwards?  

Mr. Malo: Five years after the first kick-off in the stadium, we changed around 700 seats in a block that was dedicated for the more fanatic fans. And after that, when we saw that the solution was quite interesting for the club, we spread the solution for a low tier. We are talking about 4,000 seats or less. The stadium has 53,500 seats in total.  

ESSMA: Did you encounter any problems to integrate the safe standing in the infrastructure?  

Mr. Malo: No, it was quite easy because we didn't have to change the dimension of the tier. The seats are the same and they are in the same place they were before. And we just had to implement the handrail and some other smaller structures just to ensure that people can move about without any problems of crowd collapse.  

Requirements and partners 

ESSMA: Were there any league or national requirements that had to be fulfilled before introducing safe standing? Did you have any regulations beforehand?  

Mr. Malo: Before the introduction, we were discussing it with LaLiga and also with the local authorities. Everything was quite easy, just explaining that we didn't change the number of seats in the stadium and saying that the dimensions of the seats are the same because the seats are the same, so we didn't have any problem. The Spanish law says that you must have a seat associated with a ticket, which might be different from other countries.  

ESSMA: What partners did you work with to introduce the safe standing system? 
 

Mr. Malo: I think that apart from LaLiga and the local authorities, we were working with a local partner just to manufacture and to install all the handrails. It's a company in the Basque Country, FYCAT is the name. For us it was quite easy to define everything and to work with them.  

Extra safety aspects 

ESSMA: Is there an impact on evacuations?  

Mr. Malo: No, because the corridors are just the same as before. We can evacuate the stadium in around six to seven minutes. The time that we use for that tier is even less because you are in the level of the ground at the same level as the street that we have around the stadium. So the evacuation is very simple and fast.  

ESSMA: Have you ever had any problems with people standing or climbing on the rails?

Mr. Malo: Sometimes we see some people doing that, but our security team is always present to avoid this kind of behaviour because it's a minimum percentage of people doing this. It's not an often reoccurring thing that people stand on the rails.  

What I have seen however: when the match is finished, and people are going out, some of them (because they don't want to wait for the queue that you have in the corridors) they just try to jump over the railings but again it’s something that doesn’t happen often and only a very small percentage of people try this.  

ESSMA: Did you have to increase security (more stewards) in the safe standing area?  

Mr. Malo: No, we have more or less the same amount of stewards in this area. Previously to this change, the fans who were in this section were also the more “intense” fans. So, the amount of stewards and security guards is more or less the same. It's higher than in other areas of the stadium, but it has historically aways been like that, not because of the safe standing. Just the opposite. I think that with the safe standing, the level of security and also safety is better and higher. And people from those teams are now actually working with a new tool that is better for them.  

Advise for clubs 

ESSMA: What would be your advice to clubs who are thinking about introducing safe standing?  

Mr. Malo: If they are thinking about introducing safe standing I would say that it’s a positive thing and it can help improve the atmosphere of the stadium, while also making the safety in those areas better than before.