Home Office reports the number of reported offences increased from 1,341 in 2023-24 to 1,583 and covers football-related violence, disorder, anti-social behaviour and harm.
It implies that at least one match was reported at over half of the 3,090 last season’s Premier League through to the National League and FA Cup, League Cup, Football League Trophy, Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and international matches.
The arrests, though, fell 11% to 2,167 from 1,932 – a first decline since the return of fans in the stadiums following the Covid-19 pandemic. The National Police Chiefs’ Council explained that the “disturbing level of offending at men’s football matches across the country” is placing a higher burden on the police.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the force’s football policing lead, added the statistics demonstrate “why it is vital that football clubs must begin to pay their contribution towards policing matches.”
“Policing men’s football places significant demands upon us greater than any other event in terms of public order deployments across the country, so every week police are being removed from policing communities to support matches.”
He went on to add, “The police are subsidising clubs which quite cheerfully spend as much as £1bn on one transfer window. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley also stated earlier this month that the clubs should contribute towards the £70m yearly cost of policing their games.
Hate crime, which was reported at 420 matches last season, was the most frequent occurrence, while 287 were race-related, 140 were sexually orientated, 20 were religious, 19 were disability, and three were gender identity-related.
Manchester United alone had 121 supporters arrested over the season – more than at any other club in the top six levels of English football. Manchester City had the second-highest number of arrests at 94, and West Ham, with the highest number of arrests in each of the last three campaigns, next with 77.
The most frequent offences for arrest were for public disorder (32%), violent disorder (22%) and possession of Class A drugs (19%). Regulations brought in before the start of the 2022-23 season see anyone found in possession of Class A drugs related to football banned for five years.
The total number of hate crimes also fell from 322 during 2023-24 to 212 last season. Out of these, 199 concerned men’s games and 13 women’s. Policing minister Diana Johnson stated: “Police across the country work very hard to make football grounds safe so we can all enjoy our national sport. Today’s figures indicate that all this effort is paying dividends and firm action is being taken to prevent violence and disorder from destroying football.”
