Football-related arrests surge to highest level for EIGHT YEARS in England and Wales last season

The shocking extent of criminal and anti-social behavior at matches in England and Wales has been set forth in data released by the Home Office on Thursday.

A total of 2,198 football-related arrests were made last season – the highest figure for a single campaign in the past eight years.

That number is a 59% increase from 2018-19 (1,381 arrests), the last full campaign with supporters in stadiums before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The data paints a depressing picture for the domestic game, with incidents reported in 1,609 of 3,019 matches played in England and Wales over the course of last season – representing 53%.

In 2018-19 there were incidents in 1,007 matches, which corresponds to a third of the matches played.

Last season there were 441 pitch invasions – a whopping 127% increase from the 2018-2019 campaign – and 384 hate crime incidents, a 99% increase.

The most commonly reported types of incidents were fireworks (729 matches where incidents were reported), rocket throwing (561) and incidents related to public order or antisocial behavior involving youth supporters (444).

Football-related arrests have been on a downward curve since 2015, but the numbers have now risen alarmingly.

95 West Ham supporters were arrested last season, making them the club with the worst offenses. Then follow Manchester City (76 arrests), Manchester United (72), Leicester (59) and Everton (58).

In May, a Nottingham Forest season ticket was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to bodily harm for headbutting Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp after the two clubs’ play-off semi-finals.

There was also an increase in arrests at international matches from pre-Covid levels. 38 were made during 2021-22 England and Wales national team matches, three of which took place at the Women’s European Championships.

This is an increase of 111% compared to the 18 arrests at national team matches in 2018-19, but lower than the 92 in 2020-2021 – although this figure was overwhelmingly influenced by the 90 that took place at Euro 2020.

The number of bans in England and Wales has continued to fall, with 1,308 at the end of last season – compared to 1,359 last year and 2,731 a decade ago. The number of new injunctions (516) decreased by 6% from 549 in 2018-19.

95 West Ham supporters were arrested last season, making them the club with the worst offenses

Last season, 441 field invasions were reported – a staggering 127% increase over 2018-19

Statistics have also been released on online football hate crimes for the first time, with 52 incidents recorded in the first seven months of this year.

The Department of the Interior defines online hate crimes related to football as “any electronic communication that appears to violate the Protected Characteristics Act that is directed at a player, club, football authority, match official or football personality, where there is a clear link.” with football , or where the text used is more generic and aimed at a more general group within these criteria’.

Earlier this week, Tottenham and England defender Eric Dier expressed concerns about how fan behavior has deteriorated in recent years.

“I recently had some family and friends at the Chelsea away game with Tottenham and they had problems and everything,” Dier said.

‘Not a nice one either. It’s a huge, huge problem. It was verbal, not physical, but bad stuff. I’m not saying it’s just Chelsea or Tottenham fans, it’s football fans in general.

Eric Dier believes that footballers are increasingly being abused by supporters

“I never complain about things like this and I don’t mind. I’m not being dramatic about this and I don’t think anyone should be. It’s really not that big of a deal for me. When it’s the right way, I like that side of things.

“But there are things that I find very strange. It is not fun. [Some of] that’s why my family would never go to an away game these days. I feel too uncomfortable for them to go. This has been the case for years.

‘My mother didn’t go to an away game. She’d like to, but I’d worry about it—and that’s crazy, isn’t it?’

Dier famously jumped into the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2020 to confront a fan who assaulted his brother.