Whatever The Punishment, The Numbers Don’t Lie.

Millwall fans on Tuesday night.

In light of Tuesday’s abominable violence before, during and after the Carling Cup tie between West Ham and Millwall, the FA are set to throw the book at both teams. For West Ham this could mean a spell of games behind closed doors. The world is paying attention to see what the FA does, and it is FIFA they will need to impress. They hold they key to England’s World Cup bid. But maybe the nations stats will help. The numbers never lie, do they?

Yesterday, I wrote about Tuesday’s incident and there were suggestions that maybe I was a little harsh on Millwall with respects to their involvement. Well, if I was it is because they have a history like no other club for violence. Recent history, too. Last season they ripped out seats at their cup tie in Hull and then fans ran onto the pitch and one hit the Leeds goal keeper with a lit cigarette during the play-offs. Previous trouble also includes the nasty clashes with police in 2002 after the play-off game with Birmingham and trying to burn down the South stand at Norwich. In the 2002 game against Bongo, Millwall supporters threw bricks at police horses and rioted through neighborhoods.

Well, let the numbers speak for themselves. I have in my hand a copy of the ‘Home Office Statistics on Football Related Arrests and Banning Orders’. I have perused the stats and will now tell you who are the worst fans in England.

The stats I have feature the number of banning orders in place up to the 30th October 2008. This is the latest copy of the Home Office study. I will revisit this topic when the new numbers are released.

So what is a banning order? Well, when you are arrested or busted on cctv doing something at a football match you shouldn’t, whether it be monkey chants, taking part in a pitch invasion or being involved in fighting, a banning order is issued. You are no longer to be admitted to any football ground in the country. So, which club has the most banning orders against them?

Here are the top ten:

Leeds 152, Cardiff 136, Millwall 117, Portsmouth 91, Wolves 85, Stoke City 83, Aston Villa 82, Coventry City 79, Chelsea 78, Manchester United 78, Liverpool 78, Birmingham 76.

What about West Ham? 39.

Portsmouth fans. 91 banning orders!

To put that in perspective, Plymouth, Grimsby, Spurs, Manchester City, Hull, Newcastle, Boro, Sunderland, Barnsley, Burnley, Forest, Sheff Wed, Sheff United, Swansea and Tranmere have more banning orders in place than the Hammers. Now, some teams have much smaller attendances than others adding even more perspective to the figures.

Leeds for instance had 27,681 at their first Saturday home game this season. Cardiff drew 22,264 and Millwall just 9,055. Manchester United had 75,062, Aston Villa had 35,578. Banning orders per attendance highlight’s clubs with real problems. As you can see, Millwall have the most orders with the lowest attendance.

Between 2002 and 2009 there were not many incidents at Millwall or involving Millwall fans. Why have they been involved in three major incidents in just 2009 alone? Sure, the draw against West Ham–the first since 2005–would always have potential trouble written all over it, but it’s not just the West ham game is it?

Millwall need to re-evaluate their ticketing policy. They already require away supporters to have a member card and turn up in person to buy tickets, but these tickets are clearly finding their way into the hands of others, that or they are just going to have to ban a lot of their regular away game goers.

Blaming Millwall FC for the trouble outside is harsh. Most of the Millwall contingency in the streets did not have a ticket and were not there for football, yet they ARE associated with the club.  Millwall, however, are very responsible for those inside the ground wherever that ground may be. They already have a dreadful reputation in football and one they may never shake. They can try though and they can start by banning away supporters from travelling. It will cost them money and for their efforts the FA should reward them. Everyone is happy. Goons are not at the football, everyone feels safer and Millwall don’t lose out financially.

Whatever happens at FA headquarters to get to the bottom of this mess, one thing is for certain, both sides will soon have more banning orders next to their names on the next Home office report and I am guessing that in Millwall’s case (Hull, Leed’s and West Ham) they will not only leapfrog Leeds, they will be well ahead.

With all those numbers and stats above it is worth remembering that football in the UK is still very, very safe and mostly trouble free. The arrests and orders are such a low number when considering the amount of people at grounds all over the country every week at as many as 85 games. The total number of football related arrests represents 0.01% of the football going public. 40.5%  of arrests during the period of the study were for offences committed inside stadiums and 59.5% were for offences outside stadiums. 3,842 total arrests during the 07/08 season and just 373 were for violent conduct.

The FA shouldn’t worry too hard about losing the 2018 World Cup, even given the incident between West Ham and Millwall. England’s stats will be a lot better than other countries who have been given the World Cup to host. South Africa and Brazil have crime stats that are off the chart.