Arrest Statistics Released
Arrests at domestic and international football matches involving teams from England and Wales fell to their lowest level since records began during the 2008/09 season.
Figures released by the Home Office earlier this week reveal that arrests at all matches fell by around 2% to 3,752, whilst attendances broke the 37 million mark, an increase of around 1%.
During the season just 1.18 arrests per match were made inside and outside stadia with two-thirds of all matches passing without any arrests at all. Indeed, 40% of matches were played without the presence of police officers at stadia.
Those figures reduce still further for fans who travelled to European club matches last season with just 30 recorded arrests from 49 matches and travelling support of over 105,000.
Banning orders increased slightly and stood at 3,180 on 10 November 2009.
Behaviour inside stadia showed improvement with the proportion of arrests falling to below 40% and totalling 1,495. This figure mainly comprises drink related offences (531), public disorder issues (480) and pitch incursions (245).
Fulham led the Premier League table for good behaviour with just with just 13 arrests during 2008-09 (all competitions), none of which involved violent behaviour.
Charlton Athletic and Watford were beacons for good behaviour in the Football League Championship with just four and five arrests respectively.
Special recognition is deserved by Yeovil Town and their supporters who reported a perfect score of no arrests during the campaign. Similarly, Accrington Stanley and Wycombe Wanderers each had a single blemish to their names , both for drink related offences.
Full details of the statistics are available to members on the forum or on the Home Office's official website.
