Record number of football banning orders ahead of Euros

The Metropolitan Police has released statistics on football banning orders.

The announcement comes as the Euros kick off at the end of the week.

Last season, the Met secured 160 football banning orders - the largest ever amount for a single season.

Most of the people affected by the orders will have to surrender their passports to police ahead of the Euros and will therefore not be able to travel to Germany.

Some of the sanctions that could be included in a banning order include exclusion from the vicinity of a stadium or town for domestic matches and surrendering passports for European competitions or international fixtures.

In April, the Met applied for 79 football banning orders. The orders are used to ensure matches in the capital are safe for other supporters and to minimise disruption in local communities.

The force secured 52 bans for public order offences which includes eight for tragedy chanting and further eight for racially aggravated public order offences.

51 three-year banning orders were applied last year for fans found with class A drugs, 28 bans for assault, and 48 bans for football-related offences including throwing missiles onto a pitch, going onto a pitch and flares.

Chief Inspector Pete Dearden, who leads football policing for the Met, said: “This has been a brilliant effort from the football policing unit to secure the banning orders and prevent serious disorder taking place in our communities on matchday.

“The majority of our officers working on football are fans themselves, we understand the passion but want to make sure matches taking place in the capital are safe spaces for everyone attending.

“We know the Euros is going to be a hugely popular tournament for fans travelling from London to watch England hopefully bring football home. Our dedicated football officers have worked tirelessly with clubs across the capital to secure the bans for fans who cause disorder at domestic matches, to stop them doing the same abroad.”