THE FALL OF THE HOOLIGANS
HOW LAST SEASON SAW THE LOWEST NUMBER OF FOOTBALL ARRESTS ON RECORD
I S FOOTBALL hooliganism on its way out of the British game?
Figures show there were only 1,638 arrests made at football matches in the 2016/17 season, the fewest ever recorded.
That compares with a peak of 4,162 in the 2000/01 season.
Arrests hovered above 3,000s until 2012 when they first dipped below.
But the 1,638 arrests in the 2016/17 season is the lowest number yet.
The data, published by the Home Office, shows Birmingham City topped the list of football arrests last season. Some 72 fans of the club were arrested for their behaviour at matches, followed by West Ham with 67. Leeds United fans were arrested 61 times. Aston Villa fans were arrested 52 times, just marginally ahead of the Manchester City fans, with 47. The most common reason for football fans getting arrested was public disorder, which led to to 505 arrests. Violent disorder saw 337 arrests, while there were 266 arrests due to alcohol offences. Pitch incursions - when fans run on to the field - saw 204 fans arrested.
An additional 143 people were arrested by the British Transport Police after matches.
Fans can also be issued banning orders.
These are used to prevent individuals from attending football matches both home and abroad for a fixed period of up to 10 years.
The number of active bans rose from 687 in the 2000/01 season to a peak of 3,387 in 2005/06. Since then, the figure has generally decreased yearly.
Newcastle United, who played in the Championship, topped the list of fans who had active bans in the 2016/17 season, with 111 in place.
Wolverhampton Wanderers - also in the Championship - came in second with 75.
West Ham had the highest figure in the Premier League - and the third highest overall - with 57 active bans.
Millwall were fourth with 55 bans in place in 2016/17.
In the Premier League, Manchester United were second behind West Ham, with 49 active bans.
Liverpool had 44, Chelsea 42 and Burnley 39.
In Championship, after Newcastle and Wolves, Barnsley had the third highest number of active bans with 43, followed by Birmingham City with 41.
Football bans can be carried over from previous years, and in the 2016/17 season there were 517 new orders issued among a total of 1,929 that were active.