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The Football Clubs where Fans are Arrested the Most
Fans are well-known for being passionate about football. They dedicate their time and money to cheering on their team, celebrating their successes, and commiserating about their losses. However, this passion can sometimes go a little awry and result in some fans getting themselves into trouble.
No matter where in the country the team is based or what league it’s in, there will always be a few fans who take things a little too far, keeping the local police busy on match days.
🎉 Which Football Teams Have the Wildest Fans? 🤔⚽️
We wanted to find out which teams have the worst (and best)- behaved fans, so we looked at government data on arrests made inside and outside the football grounds in the 24-hour period surrounding match days. This data covers the top five leagues in English football for the 2023/24 season.
Most Badly Behaved Football Fans
The data shows us that some fans behave worse than others, and some clubs seem to have a high number of badly behaved fans. Although Manchester City scooped another Premier League title last season, they were also top of an unwanted table.
Manchester City's 88 arrests, nine better (or perhaps worse) than Tottenham's 79 in second and Spurs fans recorded six more total arrests than local rivals Chelsea in third with 73.
Of the top 10, seven clubs contested the 2023/24 edition of the Premier League. In addition to this, two were from the Championship and one from League One
The Worst Behaved Fans by League
No matter the league, there are always going to be some fans who behave badly, although the numbers drop as we go down the leagues. This is probably due to smaller stadiums and fewer fans.
Three of the 'title winners' found themselves unsurprisingly in the Top 10 of overall fan arrests by the club, while Walsall topped the League Two standings with 18 arrests and Chesterfield represented the National League with 10.
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.
Arsenal may have been pipped to the post when it comes to winning last season's edition of the Premier League, but they do have the unwanted honour of recording the most arrests in this category.
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.
This time around it is Arsenal's local rivals Chelsea that have fallen foul of the law on the most occasions. The Blues supporters would be arrested on 31 occasions last season, three more than Leicester in second with 28.
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?
It must be noted that 17 clubs within the data sample did not generate one single arrest, so a pat on the back for each of them.
For those clubs that did appear in the data sample at some point, 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: 2023 to 2024 season.
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