Figures reveal number of football-related arrests involving FC Halifax Town

hate crime reports at football matches rose by almost 50 per cent during the 2018-19 season compared to the previous campaign.
By Ian Hirst
Published 20th Sep 2019, 14:58 BST
Football-related arrests involving FC Halifax TownFootball-related arrests involving FC Halifax Town
Football-related arrests involving FC Halifax Town

Data from the Home Office said that incidents of hate crime were reported at 193 matches between August 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019, a 47 per cent rise compared to 131 matches the year before.

The Home Office said that of those hate crime incidents, 79 per cent related to race. It stated that the increase may be due to improvements in recording the data.

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The number of arrests for racist and indecent chanting fell from 15 in 2017-18 to 14 in 2018-19.

However, it is twice as many as the number of arrests for the same offence in 2016-17 - just seven.

South Yorkshire’s Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chief’s Council football policing lead, said football disorder “remains at concerning levels” and that incidents at fixtures “is becoming the new normality”.

Stoke City had the highest number of football-related arrests at 80, followed by Leeds United at 49.

Figures at other clubs included Sheffield United (41), Barnsley (12) Rotherham United (10), Halifax Town (nine), Huddersfield Town (five) and Bradford City (three).