Football Kicks Back At Government Plans To Give Far-Right Rioters Stadium Banning Orders

The game's leaders are aghast at the police and Home Office's assumptions and will not play ball with attempts to impose "stupid and almost certainly unlawful" bans

Senior figures in football are unhappy that the Government has made links between right-wing rioters and football hooligans and are aghast at the suggestion that stadium banning orders could be imposed on individuals involved in the recent bouts of civil disorder. 

One high-ranking football figure described the notion as “brainless.” They added: “The idea they can tell clubs to take season tickets off people for non-football disorder is stupid and almost certainly unlawful. And we’re not doing it.” 

The Home Office and police have claimed there is a connection between right-wing violence and football hooligans. Ministers are looking at the possibility of using existing powers under the Football Offences Act. Another senior football source dismissed the idea with a single word: “Ludicrous.” 

Yvette Copper, the Home Secretary, is said to be trying to back away from the Home Office briefing, which was issued without being signed off at the highest level. The feeling within the game is that Cooper and Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, “get it” – as does No 10 – but there are others who do not understand the dynamics of fandom and have mindsets that are stuck in the 1980s. 

“Using football to get some sensible messaging out is no problem,” the source said. “That makes sense.”    

There is also some disquiet at the idea that football supporters are an homogenous group about whom political assumptions can be made. “You’d hardly use the same messaging for, say, Millwall and Blackburn,” they said.  

Far-right groups have made numerous attempts over the years to exploit football supporters. The National Front and British Movement tried to appeal to fans in the late 1970s with limited success. More recently, organisations like Casuals United and the Football Lads Alliance generated more column inches than recruits.  

The authorities have long made unfair assumptions about football fans. For all the talk of “two-tier policing,” travelling supporters frequently experience an overly aggressive response from the police. There are many tiers of policing and those from ethnic minority communities suffer the harshest treatment. 

Football supporters often confound expectations. Bolton Wanderers fans won praise this week for standing alongside their neighbours of Asian heritage to protect mosques and shops. More than a fifth of Bolton’s residents come from an Asian background and the club’s supporter forums were full of positive messages for the under-fire community. One typical comment said: “No room for racism or fascism in our multiracial town.”