Match Goer

An account giving an overview of the treatment of football fans - including within the criminal justice system

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Top Tips If You're Arrested or asked to attend a police station for an interview.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Every tournament we see the same rhetoric spewed out with no challenge or basic journalistic curiosity about these thugs” and what they’ve done to surrender their passports for a month which is surprising since losing freedom of movement is draconian.

https://t.co/UOg1VeeYU1

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

The reality is that this is generally only applicable at football, not just in London but country wide.

Ask yourself when was the last time you saw police on the streets and invariably it’ll at a match

Consider too the large no. of football exclusive laws and don’t forget FBOs!

[Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @MayorofLondon]

Actions have consequences - which is why @MetPoliceUK will be taking a zero-tolerance approach to criminality and disorder over the Bank Holiday weekend, with extra officers deployed and dispersal powers available.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Behavioural messaging, policing and stewarding and atmosphere. A visit to Wembley.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Wireless 2015
Glastonbury 2020
02 London 2021
Brixton Academy 2022 (2 deaths)
Wireless 2022

Just a handful of events that saw people gatecrashing. There are many more examples.

I must have missed the tailgating at music events legislation.

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Tailgating at matches to become criminal offence https://t.co/m5Iy1EYpMJ

[Football Law Assoc. @Football_Legal]

Can you be charged for throwing an empty paper cup?

A fan flicked an empty cup towards the pitch and was charged after CCTV captured it.

The prosecution later accepted the incident was too minor and discontinued the case.

No conviction and no football ban.

#FootballLaw #FBO

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

A couple of points from this interview with the head of the Met Police:

https://t.co/mmbDborl0D

1. “Polluters pay” is a really, really unfortunate analogy

2. Football is a community event attended by those who live and work within that community. Why is that never grasped?

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Cov Gdn: Palace partying, cops ready for a riot. Standing around in groups, stony faced, no proactive engagement in complete contrast to pretty much every other large event. This is a celebration, the sun is shining, spirits high but fans - always treated as a potential risk

[Football Law Assoc. @Football_Legal]

Football Fans & The Law: What Every Supporter Needs to Know https://t.co/SEfXY3o07L via ⁦@YouTube⁩

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Facial Recognition Technology trialled in Cardiff at the 2017 Champions League Final.

Jan 2020 Cardiff and Swansea fans protested against its use at the South Wales Derby.

Wonder how many people now upset about this ignored it when football fans were guinea pigs?

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨BREAKING🚨

Shocking expansion of live facial recognition turns #Cardiff into an Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance this weekend.

Embedding facial recognition surveillance in a city-wide CCTV network represents a shocking expansion of police surveillance, and turns Cardiff into an Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance. This unprecedented use of the technology could pave the way for the mass rollout of permanent facial recognition surveillance across the UK.

Live facial recognition technology turns us into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects. This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt-out of a biometric police identity check.

For the last three years, South Wales Police has not made a single arrest due to use of this technology at sporting events, yet the force continues to waste taxpayers’ money on this rights-abusing technology. No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way. South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial - @madeleine_st0ne

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

"invaded the pitch"

Oxford dictionary definition of invade..to enter a country as or with an army so as to subjugate or occupy it

Given the response from the criminal justice system easy to think this man had done just that!

[CourtNewsUK @CourtNewsUK]

Fulham fan who takes foster kids to games got 'over excited' after injury time win and invaded the pitch. Now he's banned from football three years.
https://t.co/CoiRV49IM5

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

If only the post Paris Champions League Final Report was enforced in its entirety, perhaps there wouldn’t be the need for more work to ensure English fans abroad - be they following country or club - aren’t put at so much risk by those supposedly there to keep them safe

[Free Lions @WeAreFreeLions]

Unfortunately, once again, we are having to ask England supporters to send in their witness accounts to ourselves regarding the situation outside of the Athens Olympic Stadium.

Despite being told how things would operate in advance, to see the exact opposite occur in some cases, and to see the treatment of our fans by local police using shields and tear gas to do something as simple as rearrange a queue, is so incredibly frustrating.

We’ll say more over the next 24 hours, but in the meantime, if fans can email [email protected] with your experiences, we will work with the FA and we will raise with @FansEurope and in turn @UEFA, who have already been made aware.

On a night where we had a great result on the pitch, there is still clearly so much needed to do off it to ensure our supporters aren’t put in unjustifiably dangerous situations.

We keep trying. Safe travels home all and thanks in advance.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

The stats showing the level of violence against women/girls are, (and always have been) to put it mildly, a concern so it’s great to see Kent Police introducing this new role

But what does it say about priorities that football liaison officers have been around for many years? 🤔

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

I’d have paid good money to listen to the conversation the CPS had that concluded this had a “realistic prospect of conviction”.

It’s almost as if the test alone is “it’s football related, get it to court and cross your fingers”.

[Robert Perkins @TheFootblLawyer]

Not guilty verdict for fan accused of using abusive words

Prosecution witness described being 15ft behind on the seg line, but sure it was defendant

Defence witness was in the row in front of def and sure it was not defendant

No conviction and no 3yr ban

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

An FBO notice for the offence of S5 Public Order which abusive, threatening or insulting language…

If every other police dept mirrored the impressive proactiveness and efficiency of football units the police wouldn’t attract any negative PR. Ever.

[Robert Perkins @TheFootblLawyer]

Not enough police resources to investigate domestic burglaries, but when it comes to serving a FBO notice they will make a 2 hour round trip to hand deliver it to your door

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Why just unauthorised entry into football matches? (Rhetorical question).

[Sebastian Salek @sebastiansalek]

Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill

Creates a new crime of unauthorised entry to football matches. If someone is convicted, they could be given a football banning order, preventing them from attending matches.

Presented by @LFarnz

[The FSA @WeAreTheFSA]

"Football arrests"

Did you know @ukhomeoffice now includes people arrested watching the Euros on TV in UK pubs to inflate numbers? See red circle.

11% of "football arrests" are people who might never have been to a game but nutted someone who spilled their pint or something.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

That possibly nicking a kid with a smoke bomb and maybe getting a FBO, is prioritised over catching rapists is made worse due to games often being over resourced and being glaring missed opportunities for some community policing and relationship building. https://t.co/C6JkFzMO02

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Which was always going to the case and invariably is the case.

This obsession, this salivating at the thought of football related violence is beyond boring.

[Rob Harris @RobHarris]

UK police: “Around 10,000 England fans gathered in Cologne last night …There were no reports of disorder, and no arrests of any England fans were made. This is indicative of what we have seen across Germany so far, with the vast majority of England fans behaving extremely well.”

[Wolves @Wolves]

Please don't suffer in silence.

There is 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 somebody that will listen.

[Match Goer @FansHaveRights]

Yes, there will be some banned for violence (but even then very few to the extreme shown in this propaganda) but far more will surrender their passports for non violent offences, such as using words (not fists) likely to alarm or for throwing sweets

1/10 for effort, Home Office

[Home Office @ukhomeoffice]

Real fans ✅

Hooligans ❌

Violent fans who fail to surrender their passport or try to travel to Germany for @EURO2024 could face an unlimited fine or up to 6 months in prison.