Football fans in England and Wales still 'over-policed'

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Jack Fulham

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Football fans in England and Wales continue to be over-policed, the Footballer Supporters' Federation (FSF) has said.

FSF spokeswoman Amanda Jacks said fans were still being "subject to heavy-handed policing week in, week out".

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the police were wrong to treat supporters as hooligans, when many fans were families and children.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has disputed the claim.

Andrew Holt, the Assistant Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police who speaks on football issues for ACPO, said 43% of Premier League matches now had no police presence, instead relying solely upon the clubs' stewards.

"If you look at a club like Sheffield Wednesday, perhaps 20 years ago South Yorkshire would have sent over 1,100 officers to a high risk match," he said.

"That figure today has dropped to below 300, which reflects the changes in football, and the change to the demographic [of fans]."

Ms Jacks, who works on policing and legal issues for the FSF, said that policing levels at football grounds could fall still further, pointing out that arrest levels at matches had now fallen to one person for every 10,000, and that only one in 10 of all arrests were for violent offences.

"The demographic of match going fans has changed dramatically, with many more families, children and women," she said.

"What we are saying to the police is judge us on our behaviour at the time, and not our reputation."

The FSF is due to discuss the issue later at its latest annual gathering or "Fans Parliament".

The organisation represents football fans from across England and Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10748960

Personally, I agree with this statement, however I do support Fulham which is hardly known for it's hooliganism, the closest's it's ever come to kicking off in recent years is when we beat Chelsea 1 nil and the pitch was raided by both sets of fans. The other experience I've had is our coach being bricked on the way back from Birmingham. I find the steward presence fairly adequate but sometimes they prefer to avoid trouble rather than get involved and do there jobs.
 
I also agree. The amount of police during Liverpool Everton or Liverpool United matches is way over the top.
 
The only time at Everton when I've experienced hooliganism, is when Villa came. The faggots threw a flare on the pitch and the smoke was quite thick so it could of called the game off for a few minutes. Surprised there wasn't an investigation into it what with all the police nowadays.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10748960

Personally, I agree with this statement, however I do support Fulham which is hardly known for it's hooliganism, the closest's it's ever come to kicking off in recent years is when we beat Chelsea 1 nil and the pitch was raided by both sets of fans. The other experience I've had is our coach being bricked on the way back from Birmingham. I find the steward presence fairly adequate but sometimes they prefer to avoid trouble rather than get involved and do there jobs.

Fulham was great when I went. Everyone was friendly even if they did mock when we lost.

It is very over policed at St.James. The fans are nice people generally but there were loads at the Ipswich match which is hardly going to kick off.
 
Fulham was great when I went. Everyone was friendly even if they did mock when we lost.
Agreed, Fulham fans are a nice bunch in my experience.

I remember when they beat us on the last day of the season in the 2007-2008 season to stay up and they weren't rubbing it in or anything, and we got talking to a few of them, nice people.

But I agree with the article, everything is really cautious now, but you can see why they over police at times due to the amount of hooligans in some stadiums.
 
its over policed. but its a lose lose situation, can you imagine the outcry if something happened, and there wernt enough police. with crowds that big its not just about violence,if there is a major accident or disaster. you need immediate action to minimise casualties. better to be over policed than under policed
 
Sometimes its way over the top....really irritating
 
This is about England and Wales mate not Iraq or Gothenurg.

I was using it as an example ffs. Last post for me here, everytime i post someone manages to make me look like an idiot or no one replys at all, well im sick of it tbh. Bye bye FM Base
 
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