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Football fans are often seen by the media, as well as those outside of football, as being disruptive, aggressive and even violent. This is a viewpoint that’s been historically painted through ‘football hooliganism’, which was at its peak in the 70s and 80s. While football hooliganism has been greatly on the decline since the 90s, there has been concerns among the government of a reported rise in violent football-related activity in the past couple of years.

The first reported instance of football hooliganism goes as far back as the late 19th Century, while the height of the term came between the start of the 1970s and the end of the 1980s. ‘Firms’ organised groups of individuals, which unofficially represented football clubs, and orchestrated much of the unrest that took place during this time. The 1980s saw the culmination of this behaviour – most notably in the Heysel Stadium Disaster of 1985, in which 39 people lost their lives, as well as the publication by the Popplewell Committee into football hooliganism. High profile events such as this, as well as the media’s pressure on the government to act following the events of the Hillsborough Disaster, in which the media wrongly blamed football hooliganism and unrest for the death of 97 people, resulted in the passing of the Football Spectators Act 1989.

This act allowed for greater punishment of unruly football supporters, allowing football banning orders both inside and outside of England and Wales. This act intended to create a deterrent for football hooliganism with harsh punishments for offenders, as part of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s plan to give “stiff” prison sentences to football hooligans. Statistics at the time indicated that the introduction of the act was successful in its intentions to reduce unrest at football matches, with arrests dropping from over 6,000 during the 1988/89 season to 4,122 only one season later in 1990/91. This demonstrates that the introduction of the act clearly reduced violence at football matches, and this would continue to take place over the coming decades.

Football-related arrests now sit at 2,264 for the 2022/23 season, a far cry from the highs of over 6,000 in 1988/89. However, you may have seen that arrests and football banning orders are on the rise, which has led many to believe that there may be a recent revival in unrest at football matches. Football-related arrests are at the highest they have been in nine years. However, there’s actually been a 6% fall in the number of reported incidents.  In addition, for the first time, statistics include arrests made at women’s matches, arrests made in England and Wales relating to overseas matches, and arrests for possession of class A drugs. This, of course, means that the total number of arrests has increased.

The focus on class A drugs emphasises the issue between fans and the presence of illicit substances at football matches. In fact, the government has highlighted illicit substances as a key focus in tackling unrest at football matches, allowing courts to impose football banning orders to individuals found to have class A drugs in their possession for the first time. This issue can be seen through the 32% increase on football banning orders.

While on the surface increased arrests and higher football banning orders than ever before might sound concerning, stricter provisions and wider scale statistic gathering had played a significant role in this increase. Statistics on football-related arrests usually release around late September detailing the stats on the previous season, so it’ll be interesting to see how the numbers change for the most recent season.