Badly Behaved Fans

The Football Clubs where Fans are Arrested the Most

Football fans are well-known for being a passionate bunch, dedicating their own time and money to cheering on their team, celebrating their successes and commiserating in their losses. However, this passion can sometimes go a little awry and result in some fans getting themselves into a bit of trouble.

No matter what part of the country the team is based or what league they’re in, there will always be a few fans who take things a little too far, keeping the local police busy on match days. 

We wanted to find out which teams have the worst (and best) behaved fans, so we took a look at government data relating to arrests made inside and outside of the football grounds in the 24 hour period surrounding match days. This data covers the past six seasons, so totals are taken, combining all six years of data.

Most Badly Behaved Football Fans

The data shows us that some fans behave worse than others, and some clubs seem to have high numbers of badly behaved fans, with Championship team Birmingham City having the highest number of arrests over the past six seasons. 

The Worst Behaved Fans by League

No matter the league, there are always going to be some fans who behave badly, although as we go down the leagues, these numbers drop. This is probably due to smaller stadiums and lower numbers of fans.

Badly Behaved Fans by Type of Arrest

There are a number of reasons a fan might be arrested at a football match, from pitch invasions to disorderly behaviour inspired by a few too many drinks. We looked at all the different reasons for arrest provided in the data to find out which clubs have issues with different types of bad behaviour.

Fans Most Arrested for Violent Disorder

Unfortunately, some football games see violence in the stands and outside the grounds, but these are the teams which see the highest number of fans being arrested for violent disorder.

Fans Most Arrested for Public Disorder

Whether it’s the excitement of the game or frustration over a bad result, some fans behave badly in and outside of the ground. These are the teams that have the highest number of fans arrested for public disorder.

Fans Most Arrested for Throwing Missiles

There is never any excuse for throwing objects at other fans, players, or match officials during a game, they can result in injury, and they’ll probably end up in your arrest. These are the clubs with the highest number of fans arrested for throwing missiles.

Football's Best Behaved Fans

Now we’ve seen which football clubs have the badly behaved fans, what about the well behaved fans? These are the fans with the fewest arrests and the best behaviour when they go to see their team play.

Methodology:

All data comes from the ONS data set titled Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2019 to 2020 season. We took totals of arrests from the past six seasons to give a full picture, so some clubs have been omitted due to incomplete data.

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