I thought I’d post a little update to the article I put together at the weekend on the element of trouble creeping into the non-league game at some levels, given I was due to watch Barnet vs Yeovil on Tuesday evening, a late postponement causing a change in article but something for a future blog this week on those issues.
As hoped for I did get a few comments on the debate about ‘fans’ bringing into the non-league game things that are not welcome such as flares, fireworks, homophobic chanting and generally trouble causing. As I also stated it’s not confined to a single club, and it was also evident last season across the levels.
I had some communication from Littlehampton Town which I’m happy to share and does help clarify a few points. As I clearly stated and not as gospel truth ‘I believed’ there are a few supporters banned from Premier League grounds, they aren’t but are on a football watchlist, something along the Pubwatch theme of potential risk.
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Football banning orders can be enforced but they only go as far as Step 2, the National League North and South, underneath that looks like it’s fair game. Clubs can ban supporters themselves at any level from their own home ground and we’ve seen evidence over the years for pitch encroachment or being drunk and disorderly while just recently Darlington banned a fan for abuse given to a female referee’s assistant.
The real issue we find of course is the away games and with red tape plus data protection laws there is a grey area as to whether you can release images and names to other clubs on people you might think might cause a disturbance, even the FA don’t seem to know what to do which is pretty worrying considering they should be controlling the game and safety for all.
If it was easy to sort out then of course we wouldn’t be seeing the problems. We all know there are issues all around but what no one seems to want to do is provide solutions or even guidelines to help deal with it. If any club thinks they’re immune to it attaching to their club then that’s plain daft and once it’s in then it’s extremely hard to get it gone again.
You can’t rely on the hope it will just disappear or you can brush it under the carpet, that’s likely to see it escalate further and how long before it comes down to someone getting seriously hurt?
For me there has to be more transparency for lower level clubs, the more people are priced out at the higher levels and subjected to more stringent checks at games the more likely they’ll find a home where they can get away with a bit more, I’m still thinking of ways to stop it becoming an issue, it affects the club in question to the point where I’ve had messages from people who will now not watch clubs as a casual fan even in the comfort of the home ground despite it being safer than going away thanks to the minority, now that’s not right is it?
