The number of arrests at Football matches fell once again last season, meaning that they have almost halved in recent years.

There were 1,638 football-related arrests in 2016-17, a 14% decrease of 257 on the previous season — equivalent to just four arrests per 100,000 match-going supporters.

The Home Office figures are the latest to show a long term drop in the number of football-related arrests. Almost halving over the last seven seasons: from 3,089 to 1,638 (a 47% drop).

The Football Supporters Federation's Amanda Jack's commented:

“It’s very pleasing to see arrests remaining at historically low levels."

“Any match-going fan will know that the overwhelming majority of football supporters are well behaved and that match days largely pass without incident — these figures reflect that."

“Over the last seven seasons we’ve seen significant improvements to football policing, supporter behaviour and fans’ involvement in match-day planning. These have all contributed to a better match-day experience.”

She also went on to comment on the statistics.

"Of the 1,638 football-related arrests, the three most common offence types were public disorder (31%), violent disorder (21%) and alcohol offences (16%). The EFL Championship contributed most to the arrest total (28%) and Birmingham City recorded most arrests for any individual club (71)."

"Football related arrests compare favourably to other large scale public events. At this year’s V-Festival in Birmingham, there were 42 arrests in total from the 90,000-strong crowd. Elsewhere there were 14 arrests at Chester Races’ May festival from 60,000 spectators."

“This demonstrates how safe football is and how misleading media coverage around disorder at the football can be,”

“It’s important to understand that the legislation around football is the most restrictive of any major past time in this county."

“Football fans face arrest for actions or behaviour that simply don’t exist as offences at any other event such as drinking alcohol in sight of the field of play.”

"As well as arrests declining, the number of active banning orders in 2016-17 also fell by 7% while the number of new banning orders issued fell by 5% compared to the previous season."

The FSF and legal campaigners have long been promoting legal representation for football fans in trouble at the match and lifting the lid on the use of banning orders.

For the full statistics as released by the home office click on the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/football-related-arrests-and-banning-

Find out more about The Football Supporters Federation and it's "Watching Football Is Not A Crime" Campaign by clicking on the link below.

http://www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/watching-football-is-not-a-crime/

Photo: Action Images

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