Sunday marked another hugely successful high-profile sporting event held at Wembley with the league cup final between Liverpool and Newcastle. New generations of fans have grown accustomed to, for the most part, feeling safe on a matchday.
But, as I witnessed firsthand at the final last week, just below the surface, the danger of the challenges of organising and managing these major football matches is apparent. The problem of tailgating might sound benign, but it has become an increasingly alarming problem for the police and football authorities. The Euro 2020 final provided a stark reminder of the very real dangers that tailgating can pose if unchecked and it is why I’ve been working to change the law through my private member’s bill, Unauthorised Entry To Football Matches, so we can stamp out this dangerous behaviour.
Before entering parliament, I spent all my professional career serving the public as a Crown Prosecutor. I worked to ensure that those who committed wrongs were brought to justice. In September, I was one of the twenty MPs successful in the private member’s bill ballot. I knew then that I had to focus on a matter close to my heart, criminal justice.
I accompanied Policing Minister Diana Johnson and Baroness Louise Casey to Wembley Stadium for the league cup final to see for myself the problem my bill is seeking to tackle. We walked down to the ticket gates and within 30 seconds we witnessed our first tailgater trying to follow a ticketholder through the turnstiles. Over five or so minutes we saw numerous tailgaters. Some were apprehended as they were trying to get through the turnstiles, others managed to get into the stadium but were apprehended, sometimes with a scuffle or a struggle, putting staff in danger. Tailgating is a resource-intensive offence for police to deal with as, once detained, police must hold those arrested until it is safe to move them through the crowds of supporters and out of the stadium.
It’s been four years since Baroness Casey released her excellent report on the ‘near miss’ disaster at Wembley for the Euro 2020 final when between 3000 and 5000 ticketless thugs sought to force their way into the ground. The result was a serious disorder which could have resulted in disaster.
Many of us had believed we’d never see this kind of disorder again at a major football match. These scenes would not have been out of place in the dark days of football hooliganism in the 1980s. Baroness Casey’s report has provided the foundations for action and this bill is in large part due to the tireless work of Lord Brennan who presented it to the house in the last parliament.
The Euro 2020 final episode provided a stark warning and many matches since have shown clear signs that this danger remains. Co-hosting the Euros in 2028 is an exciting moment for the country and it is time we brought in legislation so that supporters can enjoy a matchday in full safety.
My bill creates a new offence of unauthorised entry to designated football matches with the person convicted of the offence liable to a fine of £1000 and would be made subject to a strict football banning order.
This banning order is a significant deterrent for those supporters thinking about chancing the turnstiles at their next match. They now risk the consequence of not being able to attend any football matches or risk a prison sentence. This would mark a dramatic shift from the current system where a perpetrator is likely ejected from the stadium with the only possible legal repercussion being a fraud charge which often isn’t brought.
We never want to see the scenes at Wembley repeated or realised. It was supposed to be a day of national pride, a day to support our lads representing our great country but it became a day of shame.
The police, footballing authorities and Baroness Casey have been calling for this for years and I’m delighted that the bill has now passed second reading. We now move to committee stage.
Unauthorised entry to football matches puts at risk the safety of real fans – We must stamp out this dangerous behaviour
