Football banning orders impose severe restrictions on the movements of potential hooligans Incidents of football hooliganism involving young people have almost trebled in the last three years, according to police figures.
Association of Chief Police Officers statistics seen by BBC Radio 5 live show there are now 290 teenagers across the UK banned from football grounds.
Officers are concerned there is a new generation of football hooligans.
Police say trouble is more focused on the lower leagues where there are fewer resources to control matches.
Internal police figures seen by the BBC show incidents of football disorder involving young people have increased from 38 in 2007 to 103 last season.
While the violence is not at the levels of the 1970s and 1980s, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) says it is seeing disturbing evidence of younger fans becoming involved.
Figures show that almost half (47%) of incidents of disorder last season in England, Wales and Northern Ireland involved youths.
Andy Holt, who speaks for Acpo on football policing, said: “If they’re engaging in football-related disorder at an earlier age then we’re going to be stuck with that sort of behaviour potentially for some while.
“So it is something that we are acutely aware of. People are coming through and engaging in football disorder who perhaps weren’t around in the heyday of football violence 15-20 years ago.
“So it is a worrying trend that the younger element are starting to pick up on this sort of behaviour.”
One of the key tools used to try to tackle the problem are football banning orders.
The orders allow the courts across the UK to impose severe restrictions on the movements of potential hooligans around matches.
They will be banned from all football grounds, and can also be stopped from using trains or entering city centres on match days.
Official statistics for the current football season will be published in the Autumn but BBC Radio 5 Live has seen figures showing that in September there were 3,211 bans in place across the UK. Some 290 of them were for teenagers, and the youngest was aged just 13.
“Phil” and his brother “John” are both in their early 20s. John got his first football banning order when he was 17.
Tom is 19. He first became involved in football hooliganism in his early teens. He is banned from going near any football ground in the UK.
“You bump into people or you arrange things (violence) if it’s a big day and you see how things go through the day. If you don’t get nothing you go back to the pub and everything’s sweet, you’re out for a drink anyway with the lads.
“If something happens it happens, if it don’t it don’t. It don’t make a difference to your day, but having a row (fight) does tend to make the day better. It’s something to talk about.
“I’ve seen knives involved, pool cues, chairs, everything. Anything, any weapon you could think of. Anything that you could pick up on a Saturday. It happens. There is a buzz to it.
“I’m not allowed near the football stadium 4 hours before, 6 hours after the match. I have to hand my passport in every time England play away and hand my passport in a week before the World Cup so it affects you going on holiday.
“Most people I know have got season tickets – everyone in Derby loves football. So I regret it for that, but it was still part of growing up. It happened. I don’t regret nothing in my life so that’s how it goes.”
Despite being Coventry City fans, neither of them will be able to go to a football match until they are almost 30.
“Phil” has been banned for eight years and “John” for 10. They were both convicted of football-related violence after being involved in a fight involving up to 100 Coventry and Leicester fans in 2008.
Proud members of the club’s hooligan “firm”, the Coventry Legion, they got involved in football violence when they were 14.
Despite the damage they have done to the reputation of Coventry City they see themselves as the true fans of the club.
“Football hooligans may not be true fans to you, we’re there every game. What are you doing? ‘Oh lets sit at home on the chat boards slagging off how bad Coventry City are doing.’ Come back when you know what you are talking about.”
“We’re prepared to fight whether it’s windy, snowy, rainy, we’re prepared to fight every weekend through the football season for Coventry City and for everything they represent.”
“I definitely think we’re treated worse than paedophiles. Okay, paedophiles have to sign a register for so long, but they don’t have to go through what we have to go through.
“They don’t have to go down the police station at eight o’clock at night after working a 12 hour shift to go sign their football banning card.”
Officers say they have seen a shift in the way football violence takes place, with trouble more focused on the lower leagues where ticket prices are cheaper and there may be fewer resources to steward and police games.
On Saturday, trouble broke out after Southampton’s League One match against Bournemouth. Six people were arrested after violent clashes between supporters outside the ground and in the city centre.
Match commander Supt Rick Burrows said of the trouble: “Southampton’s a lovely town and the club’s a great club, and the majority don’t want to see that. It’s the reality of modern day football.
“Football hooliganism doesn’t go away. It morphs and it comes back in different forms and the police have to be switched on to that and respond accordingly.”
The cost of policing games has become a point of tension between the football leagues and the police.
Acpo estimates it costs up them up to £25m to deal with football matches, but last season they only recovered £12-15m of that from the clubs.
The rest of the price is being borne by the police, and ultimately, taxpayers.
In response, the clubs say they are not legally liable for trouble happening away from their grounds and should not be expected to pay for it.
The Football League says it is not complacent about the problem of hooliganism but the figures need to be seen in context. They say the scale of the rise is not significant.
A spokesman said: “We are very surprised and disappointed that wider assumptions are being made about an increase of 65 incidents, some of which would not have been serious enough to merit an arrest, across a season that encompassed 2,000 football matches watched by more than 30 million people.”
“There is a constant dialogue between the football authorities and the police service. If the police have some new issues of concern they should raise them at the appropriate forum.”
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