Wed 25 Oct 06
Not Just on the Pitch
The Home Office reports that banning orders for football supporters are at a record high, increasing by 7% in the past year.
While the Premier League has gone ahead of the Championship in fan arrests, the top five havens of hooliganism reside in both the old Divisions One and Two:
Banning Orders
- Leeds
- Portsmouth
- Cardiff City
- Stoke City
- Manchester United
Arrests
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Manchester United
- Chelsea
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Coventry City
However,
[B]oth Hull City and Luton Town had the highest number of fans arrested for violent disorder - both clubs had 21 hooligans detained.
Fourteen Birmingham City fans were arrested for the same offence in the year.
[…]
Thirteen people were also held for violent disorder at both Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday.
Notwithstanding that data, in my visits to a number of football grounds I have not encountered any particular violent incidents. The police protection was high but not as paramilitary in flavour as I witnessed in Stuttgart, by contrast. The Premiership has in fact become rather family-friendly, thanks to all-seater stadia and enforcement in the stands. That being said, the Great British Night Out — a pint and a fight — has not vanished entirely from football.
Paul Canniff
