Football-related arrests: Clubs call to reduce the burden of police costs on taxpayers

Football clubs have been urged to contribute more to the cost of match policing to reduce the burden on taxpayers.

According to UK Football Policing Lead Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the current model where clubs are not responsible for policing costs outside the stadium “simply cannot continue”.

Statistics Released on Thursday, outsider The incidents were seen by the Home Office at 1,644 matches in England and Wales last season – the highest number since the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) began collecting data in 2017-18.

Chief Constable Roberts said taxpayers funded £70m of police funding for football matches last season, as part of a model he believes “doesn’t work”.

“Football-related crime doesn’t just stop when you leave the stadium, but under the current system multi-billion-pound football clubs don’t have to pay a penny for off-field policing,” he said.

“It means that taxpayers are saddled with a £70m bill every season, which simply cannot continue.”

Roberts’ comments came as statistics showed an increase in “high intensity” incidents at football matches last season.

Of the reported incidents, 159 were classified as “high intensity” – up from 106 the previous season.

Geoff Pearson, professor of law at the University of Manchester and a leading researcher on crowd behaviour, said he was not concerned by the statistics.

He reported that the incidents were separate from football-related arrests and other police actions – of which there were 1,963 last season, fewer than the previous campaign.

The increase could be due to clubs using better recording systems and devices, he says.

Pearson said the 3% drop in arrests for violent disorder was an indicator of the good work of UK police, adding that “football policing in this country is the envy of much of the world”.

“I’m not the least bit alarmed by the statistics. If high-severity incidents increased by 50%, I would expect violent disorder to increase, not decrease,” Pearson said.

“The British police continued to improve their practices when there was a lockdown in this country. When football is in chaos around the world, the British police should be commended for sticking to their guns and introducing things like safe positions.

“These figures indicate the rewards for doing so.”

In the 2021–22 season, when fans returned to stadiums following the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 2,198 football-related arrests, and the figures for the following two seasons were similar.

This number drops to 2,004 in the 2024–25 season, again down 40 from the previous season.

Pearson said the number of arrests is down despite an increase in football-related crime over the past few years, another indicator of police work.

Unauthorized entry into a match becomes a criminal offence In March As part of the new law, possession of class A drugs will also be included in football-related arrests in 2024.