Match Goer
@FansHaveRights
Followers
26K
Following
15K
Media
1K
Statuses
32K
An account giving an overview of the treatment of football fans - including within the criminal justice system
Joined February 2009
Top Tips If You're Arrested or asked to attend a police station for an interview.
15
124
295
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?
1
3
8
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
3
6
54
Football Fans & The Law: What Every Supporter Needs to Know https://t.co/SEfXY3o07L via @YouTube
0
14
24
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?
🚨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
0
4
18
"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!
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
1
3
10
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
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
0
3
10
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? 🤔
1
0
1
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”.
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
3
0
11
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.
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
2
3
26
Why just unauthorised entry into football matches? (Rhetorical question).
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
4
3
40
"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.
10
127
353
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.
bbc.co.uk
Report finds officers are having to cancel appointments with victims and delay making arrests.
2
51
185
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.
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.”
2
5
47
Please don't suffer in silence. There is 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 somebody that will listen.
2K
15K
44K
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
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.
1
7
64
Is it really that much of a problem that it requires a new law? 🤔 Should the police be involved, or should it be a matter for the club??🤔 Is it serious enough to receive a conviction and be banned from football for 3 years???🤔 ‘Like’ - Yes ‘RT’ - No
The Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill is due to have its 2nd reading in the HofC on 23 February 2024 It would create a new offence of unauthorised entry and attempt to gain unauthorised entry to designated football matches in England and Wales https://t.co/3sZbpoeWIH
2
25
11
The Met Police are confident that Facial Recognition technology is needed to keep us safe from sex offenders and hooligans, yet were obstructive as possible in replying to a straightforward FOI request about its use. You’d think they had something to hide…
1
1
4
You don’t just “find yourself” with a banning order. They tend to follow after a successful - but not automatic - application on conviction of a football related offence ✅
@Boro @SunderlandAFC 2/2 Anyone who intends to use it as an excuse to cause disorder will be dealt with robustly & those people could find themselves with a banning order or facing a criminal prosecution ❌
1
2
15
A reminder that Police and FCs routinely share info about fans to ‘prevent crime’, a very low bar FCs ban fans at the behest of police FCs can and do ban fans for what they say on SM Police covertly collect info on fans for upto ten years to use as evidence in civil FBO apps
1
4
20
Throw a sweet at a match and risk crim conviction/passport confiscation so I don’t then think it is unreasonable to suggest that if every area of the CJS was as well resourced as football (ie, spotters to catch those breaching FBOs) perhaps we wouldn’t see so many horror stories
0
4
14