West Ham fans have topped the football arrests list for the third straight year, with Hammers supporters detained more than any other fanbase across the top five divisions of English football.
There were 103 West Ham fans arrested during the 2023/24 campaign, according to the Home Office’s annual report on football-related arrests and banning order, as published by the Government on Thursday morning. The figure is up from 89 arrests for West Ham fans during the previous season.
Manchester City and Manchester United had the joint-second most supporters arrested last season, with 88 each, while 85 Arsenal fans and 67 Chelsea supporters were nicked. ‘Public disorder’ was the most common offence among all five fanbases.
The Home Office report stated: “In the 2023 to 2024 football season there were 2,584 football-related arrests, a 14% increase (+320) compared with the 2022 to 2023 season, driven by an increase in arrests for the possession of class A drugs (+144) and arrests made in England and Wales relating to overseas tournaments (+180).
“Data taken on 1 August 2024 showed there were a total of 2,172 football banning orders in force in England and Wales, an increase of 34% compared with 1 August 2023 (1,624). Within the 2023 to 2024 football season, 825 new banning orders were issued, an increase of 21% compared with the 2022 to 2023 football season.”
West Brom had the highest increase of arrests in the 2023/24 season when compared to the campaign before, with 11 arrests rising to 51.
A West Ham spokesperson said about the club finishing top once more: “The Club deploys a pro-active zero-tolerance approach to eradicate discrimination in our game.
“The Club has improved and robust systems and procedures in place on matchdays at London Stadium, which sees pro-active tactics being deployed, including use of panoramic state-of-the-art CCTV, correlating with the increased number of arrests and bans for certain offences.
“Importantly, the Club works closely with relevant authorities to re-educate supporters who have committed offences.”
West Ham also noted that European football had increased the club’s number of fixtures in recent seasons and the number of police officers present at those matches. The club said it “welcomed” the Metropolitan Police’s ‘Violent Against Women and Girls Unit’ to deliver additional training to staff on matchdays to encourage reporting of incidents.
