Extreme Football Forum  |  Football Forums  |  General Football Forum  |  Topic: Increase in young football hooligans

BBC

Incidents of football hooliganism involving young people have almost trebled in the past three years, according to police figures.

Association of Chief Police Officers statistics seen by BBC Radio 5 live show there are now 290 teenagers across the UK banned from football grounds.

Officers are concerned there is a new generation of football hooligans.

Police say trouble is more focused on the lower leagues where there are fewer resources to control matches.

'Worrying trend'
 
Internal police figures seen by the BBC show incidents of football disorder involving young people have increased from 38 in 2007 to 103 last season.

While the violence is not at the levels of the 1970s and 1980s, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) says it is seeing disturbing evidence of younger fans becoming involved.

Figures show that almost half (47%) of incidents of disorder last season in England, Wales and Northern Ireland involved youths.

Andy Holt, who speaks for Acpo on football policing, said: "If they're engaging in football-related disorder at an earlier age then we're going to be stuck with that sort of behaviour potentially for some while.

"So it is something that we are acutely aware of. People are coming through and engaging in football disorder who perhaps weren't around in the heyday of football violence 15-20 years ago.

"So it is a worrying trend that the younger element are starting to pick up on this sort of behaviour."