MORE Birmingham City fans were arrested than at any other club in England’s top five leagues for a second consecutive season
The Home Office this week published the arrest and banning order figures for all the English football leagues from last season.
There were 1,638 football-related arrests in 2016-17, a 14% decrease of 257 on the previous season. The headline figure across England’s four leagues in 2016-17 is there were just four arrests for every 100,000 attendees.
Although the matches played in the Championship accounted for the highest number of football-related arrests (due to larger number of teams and attendances), the arrest rate was 4.1 arrests per 100,000 attendees, similar to the average.
Surprise, Surprise…
In terms of the which club’s supporters got into the most trouble in the 2016-17 season, more Birmingham City fans were arrested than at any other club in England’s top five leagues for a second consecutive season.
Of the 455 arrests recorded in the Championship 72 of them were Birmingham fans – making up almost 16%.
Around a third of Birmingham’s 72 arrests were for public disorder offences but trouble at St Andrew’s is on the up. At the end of the season, 25 of their 72 arrests were at home fixtures, a jump from nine, 12 months earlier.
West Ham supporters were behind them on 67, followed by Leeds on 61 and then it was Villa fans.
Aston Villa fans came in fourth in terms of the arrest figures across all leagues with 52 arrests, a slight increase on the 49 recorded the previous season.
The evidence of why Villa vs Blues is the most notorious fixture in English football (for the wrong reasons) is clear to see with both sets of fans in the top five clubs for arrests.
Completing the top five was Manchester City, although their 47 arrests was an improvement on the 66 recorded in 2015-16.
Public disorder (31%), violent disorder (21%) and alcohol offences (16%) remain the most common offences, while arrests for missile throwing saw a significant increase on the previous season.
Banning Orders
Banning orders normally last a minimum of three years and carry severe restrictions on match days.
When it came to active banning orders it was Wolves fans that were the worst of the West Midland’s clubs coming second with 75 to Newcastle fans’s 111, for having the most bans nationally currently in place.
Birmingham with 41 were 10th in the Championship, while Villa’s tally of 31 was the 15th highest in the division.
Overall though, the number of active banning orders in 2016-17 fell by 7% while the number of new banning orders issued fell by 5% compared to the previous season.
For the full Home Office report on Football-related arrests and banning order statistics click here
UTV
The New MOMS Podcast Episode is out, listen below or check it out on Apple/iTunes:
