BATTLE LINES
How cocaine is fuelling surge in football violence
WIDESPREAD cocaine use by football fans is fuelling increased disorder at matches, Britain’s top football cop has told the Mirror.
It feels like we are going back to the days of the lager louts, but with cocaine
SECURITY SOURCE AT A PREMIER LEAGUE GROUND
It comes as England prepare to play Italy behind closed doors on Saturday as punishment for shameful scenes at last summer’s European Championship final at Wembley.
Police warn it is “highly likely” excessive alcohol and drug use will cause further trouble at events this summer.
National football policing lead Chief Constable Mark Roberts warned of an increase in disorder. He said: “While there are many reasons for this, the use of cocaine is a contributory factor and one which needs to be addressed.
“Recent operations have identified widespread cocaine use both around stadiums [and] on the rail network as supporters travel to games.”
Fans told the Mirror they had seen cocaine being openly snorted in the stands. And a security boss at a Premier League ground warned of a return to the lager louts of the 1980s – but this time combining excessive booze with class A drugs.
The source said: “It’s become more apparent recently that there’s a general rise in violence and disorder at matches.
“Pre-Covid, there were not these levels of disorder.
It seems almost like a dissipation of the social norms. It feels like we are going back to the days of the lager louts. It is very rarely the older lot. It’s party packs of younger people in their mid to late 20s.
“I think they spent the lockdowns drinking and taking cocaine at house parties and illegal raves and now lockdown is over they are doing the same – but now it’s in public.”
Measures being brought in by the FA next season include more sniffer dogs at turnstiles – though the security source said they have limited impact as fans are getting better at avoiding detection.
Specialist surfaces will also be installed in toilets after investigations at one club revealed traces of cocaine in each lavatory tested.
In a survey last summer, 30% of fans reported seeing others taking cocaine inside a football stadium, while 6% admitted doing it themselves.
Author Peter Caton, a West Ham fan for nearly 50 years, said: “It seems to be mainly younger males combining alcohol and cocaine. We’ve seen people taking it. It’s well known that
people are taking it in the toilets but I’ve seen fans taking it openly in the stands. It happened behind us at an away game at Manchester United and my friend ended up with cocaine spilled over his coat.
“It’s put me off going to some games. The away games and cup games are the worst. I wouldn’t take my grandson to them any more.”
Another football fan, Rob, who takes his nine-year-old Chelsea supporting son to home games, said fans openly take drugs in front of stewards and children.
He added: “The Villa match last season was a 5pm kick off and a lot of the fans were absolutely smashed.
“We were in the family stand next to the away supporters and it was constant abuse. There were hardly any police, just stewards, who were just kids and they looked petrified.”
A review into the Euros chaos at Wembley last July found “ticketless, drunken and drugged-up thugs” could have caused death as they stormed the ground. The report by Baroness Casey blasted the “day of national shame” as 2,000 fans got into Wembley illegally, with police dogs kicked, officers attacked and people “flung to the floor”.
Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate said last month it was an “embarrassment” and warned: “Alcohol and drugs are a part of the equation.” Policing Minister Kit Malthouse told the Mirror a proposed five-year ban for those caught with class A drugs would help. He said: “Class A drugs lie behind much of the rise in violence at matches recently. We must act.”
Fans going to this winter’s World Cup in Qatar face a zero-tolerance drugs policy and punishments said to include fines of up to £44,000 or even the death penalty if caught bringing cocaine into the country.