Toon fans top the league for banning orders
BUT SUNDERLAND HAD MORE FOOTBALL-RELATED ARRESTS
Newcastle United supporters continue to have the most football banning orders, new statistics show.
Data from gov.uk reveals for the 2018/19 season that 71 Toon fans were the subject of banning orders.
That was significantly higher than Tyne-Wear rivals Sunderland (40) and other North East clubs Middlesbrough (34) Hartlepool United (three) and Gateshead (two).
Overall, however, the nationwide figure for existing banning orders is lower than 12 months previously.
Grimsby Town (61), West Ham and Sheffield United (54 each) and Wolves and Stoke City (50 each) were among the other clubs with the highest number of supporters with banning orders.
In terms of football-related arrests made during the 2018/19 season, Stoke City (80) came out on top, followed by Leeds United (49) and Aston Villa (42).
Sunderland had 34 arrests while Newcastle United had 30.
Middlesbrough had 19 arrests while Hartlepool United and Gateshead had one each.
As at August 1, 2019, a total of 1,771 football banning orders were in force nationally, a decrease of 3% compared with 12 months earlier.
There were 1,381 football-related arrests made during the 2018/19 season, a 10% decrease on the previous season.
Of these, the most common offence types were public disorder (38%) and violent disorder (19%).
The number of current banning orders includes orders made prior to the 2018-19 season which are still being served.
Both Sunderland and Newcastle United declined to comment when approached on Thursday about the new figures.
The officer in charge of football policing in the UK has called on clubs to prioritise police spending over "paying frankly ridiculous sums for sometimes average football players".
Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chief's Council football policing lead, spoke out following the release of the new data from the Home Office.
There were 1,007 football fixtures in England and Wales where incidents were reported in 2018-19, a drop of four per cent from the 1,050 the season before.
Football disorder remains at concerning levels MARK ROBERTS