 |
| Arrested Hooligan. Date unknown. |
ON May the 29th
1985, Liverpool took on the might of Turin in the European Championship final;
the old Champions League. The likes of Michael Platini and Paulo Rossi took to
the Heysel Stadium that night as Juventus beat Liverpool by a solitary penalty.
However, an even far more sinister over-shadowed this event: The Heysel Stadium
disaster – where 39 Juventus fans lost their lives and 600 were injured –
through Liverpool fans scaling the walls to their seating quarter. In the
immediate aftermath of the disaster English teams and fans were banned from
travelling or competing in European competition.
The English-fans were now notorious for ‘Football Hoolinigism’ with the stereo-typical fans being based on the likes of Auf Weidersehn’s ‘Oz’ who is played by Jimmy Nail. However, in 1990/1991 season UEFA lifted the ban on English-clubs to compete in Europe; and violence, and arrests have been very limited in Europe since – at least on an English behalf.
Fast-forward to the 2012/2013 Premier League season: There were 2,456 match-day arrests in total, with 552 of them being for violent conduct, 42 being for racism and in total there was 589 banning orders on English fans.
Newcastle United had the most fan arrests with 175 fans arrested on match days; in one incidence because a man punched a horse. The Champions- Manchester United found themselves second in the arrest numbers with 145 fans arrested. Cardiff City were –by some way- top of the Football banning orders chart with around 121 of their fans banned for Hoolingism.
Although there was an increase in hooliganism last season, there was a 23% decrease the season before. For example: see chart.
The English-fans were now notorious for ‘Football Hoolinigism’ with the stereo-typical fans being based on the likes of Auf Weidersehn’s ‘Oz’ who is played by Jimmy Nail. However, in 1990/1991 season UEFA lifted the ban on English-clubs to compete in Europe; and violence, and arrests have been very limited in Europe since – at least on an English behalf.
Fast-forward to the 2012/2013 Premier League season: There were 2,456 match-day arrests in total, with 552 of them being for violent conduct, 42 being for racism and in total there was 589 banning orders on English fans.
Newcastle United had the most fan arrests with 175 fans arrested on match days; in one incidence because a man punched a horse. The Champions- Manchester United found themselves second in the arrest numbers with 145 fans arrested. Cardiff City were –by some way- top of the Football banning orders chart with around 121 of their fans banned for Hoolingism.
Although there was an increase in hooliganism last season, there was a 23% decrease the season before. For example: see chart.
Season
|
Arrests
|
2012-13
|
2,456
|
2011-12
|
2,363
|
2010-11
|
3,391
|
However, although the Hooliganism culture is glorified through films such as: Green Street and The Football Factory the proportion of arrests to those attending is phenomenal, 39,000,000 people attended football matches in England last year and there was only 2,456 arrests. Most of the arrests are due to drunk and disorderly instead of violent conduct – which is a massive change from the 1980’s.
Overall, Football Hoolinigasim in the UK is over-exaggerated by the media, and film. But just like every-club in the world there is always the occasional bad fan.
‘Football is a gentleman game, played by hooligans’
Twitter: RyanRowley23
