Pitch invasions: Offenders to receive automatic club ban under new Premier League & EFL measures

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62293635

 

Pitch invaders at Premier League and English Football League matches will receive an automatic club ban under new measures to tackle fan behaviour.

Concerns were raised about safety at grounds after a number of pitch invasions at the end of last season.

Individuals who carry or use pyrotechnics or smoke bombs will also be banned and identified offenders will be reported to the police.

The Football Association will also implement tougher sanctions for clubs.

It is an offence for fans to enter the pitch "without lawful authority or lawful excuse" under the Football Offences Act 1991 - but offenders have not always been prosecuted.

However, prosecuting offenders will now be the "default response" under the new measures.

 

The leagues and the FA will:

Work with clubs to improve searches of individuals
Increase use of sniffer dogs at grounds
Work with social media platforms to quickly remove fan-generated videos of illegal behaviour
Ask the government to restrict the supply of pyrotechnics and smoke bombs
Potentially ban accompanying parents or guardians of children who take part in illegal behaviour
The Premier League, EFL and FA will also work with police forces to "establish a new principle for cases relating to pyrotechnics and smoke bombs".

Premier League clubs agreed new measures to deal with pitch invasions last month following a series of incidents.

 

• The Sports Desk - Pitch invasions and pyrotechnics: how can football control its fans?

Aston Villa keeper Robin Olsen was assaulted at Manchester City on the final day of the season, while a Nottingham Forest fan was jailed for headbutting Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp at the end of their play-off match.

"The rise in anti-social behaviour that we saw in stadiums at the end of last season was entirely unacceptable and put people's safety at risk," FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said.

"Together, English football has introduced new measures and stronger sanctions, for the start of the coming season, to send out a clear message that we will not tolerate this type of illegal and dangerous behaviour.

"It is the responsibility of everyone in the game, including governing bodies, clubs, players, coaches, and fans, to ensure that we all play our part in protecting our game and each other."

Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters' Association, added: "We are contacted by supporters on a fairly regular basis who have been caught jumping on the pitch, or with pyro in the stands, and without exception they regret doing it.

"Whether they had positive intentions or not is irrelevant in the eyes of the law - pyro and pitch incursions are illegal, you will be prosecuted and you will be banned by your club."

[Voll Blau]

So the technology in grounds is clearly good enough to prosecute individuals carrying out isolated acts of violence, but we still need to devote police resources to ensure everyone who runs on a bit of grass is criminalised? It's an absolute racket and all fans should stand up against it.

[filbertway]

57 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters' Association, added: "We are contacted by supporters on a fairly regular basis who have been caught jumping on the pitch, or with pyro in the stands, and without exception they regret doing it.

"Whether they had positive intentions or not is irrelevant in the eyes of the law - pyro and pitch incursions are illegal, you will be prosecuted and you will be banned by your club."

 They regret getting caught

 

[AyewJoking]

I call billshit.

 

What if a league 2 team survive relegation on the last day, last second and the few thousand fans understandably go mental and run onto the pitch?

Is it - tough shit, you know the rules, now your club has lost the majority of its  paying fan base. ?

[Nalis]

Good luck to them actually be able to enforce this for every single pitch invader

Edited 26 July 2022 by Nalis

[Guest Lako42]

If we don't concede from a corner against Brentford I'm on the pitch, no legislation will stop that. 

[purpleronnie]

Of course the police aren't going to ban 1000's.  They will use it as a deterrent though, and it'll probably work in reducing the amount of pitch invasions.

[BirdieMachine]

Not really too bothered to be honest, im never running on a pitch no matter what happens. I dont get it and I dont understand how running on a piece of grass with a load of random nobheads constitutes a celebration anymore than going mental in the stands.

 

If its a genuinely spontaneous thing as @Royston. pointed out then thats ok and technology in the ground can sort that one out if anyone misbehaves.

 

Most pitch invasions seem pre planned, like we are running on no matter what, even if nothings happened in the game for the last half an hour, and if people want to do that then if they get banned so be it.

[Super_horns]

11 hours ago, Nalis said:

Good luck to them actually be able to enforce this for every single pitch invader

I presume it’s aimed at the lone pitch invader or a few.

 

TBH thought they were banned anyway ?

[Brainy]

On 26/07/2022 at 02:30, Royston. said:

I call billshit.

 

What if a league 2 team survive relegation on the last day, last second and the few thousand fans understandably go mental and run onto the pitch?

Is it - tough shit, you know the rules, now your club has lost the majority of its  paying fan base. ?

Then don't break the law in the name of "passion" and "heat of the moment" as someone said above I don't get why people do it anyway.

[AyewJoking]

1 hour ago, Stinky said:

Then don't break the law in the name of "passion" and "heat of the moment" as someone said above I don't get why people do it anyway.

Not quite the point I was making.

 

If these paying fans are all banned, the club misses out on a shit load of revenue which would be a huge loss for a league two club.

[Voll Blau]

On 26/07/2022 at 11:17, BirdieMachine said:

Not really too bothered to be honest, im never running on a pitch no matter what happens. I dont get it and I dont understand how running on a piece of grass with a load of random nobheads constitutes a celebration anymore than going mental in the stands.

 

If its a genuinely spontaneous thing as @Royston. pointed out then thats ok and technology in the ground can sort that one out if anyone misbehaves.

 

Most pitch invasions seem pre planned, like we are running on no matter what, even if nothings happened in the game for the last half an hour, and if people want to do that then if they get banned so be it.

 

Then why do these new rules even need to be brought in? The technology is clearly working and prosecutions have resulted from the herberts in question being identified. This just risks punishing and criminalising thousands of people for no good reason.

[davieG]

6 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

 

Then why do these new rules even need to be brought in? The technology is clearly working and prosecutions have resulted from the herberts in question being identified. This just risks punishing and criminalising thousands of people for no good reason.

Probably because they think it's on it's way to becoming what's seen as normal behaviour and pitch invasions are more likely to lead to clashes between fans and before you know it we're back in the 70s with ever more restrictions and inconveniences put on the majority of fans that are there for the football.

 

There were plenty of innocent pitch invasions in the late 60/70s but they were then used as a vehicle for violent clashes. Do we really want to see that again?

 

I think 'nipping it in the bud' is the phrase before it escalates into something far worst and sinister.

 

[Voll Blau]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

Probably because they think it's on it's way to becoming what's seen as normal behaviour and pitch invasions are more likely to lead to clashes between fans and before you know it we're back in the 70s with ever more restrictions and inconveniences put on the majority of fans that are there for the football.

 

There were plenty of innocent pitch invasions in the late 60/70s but they were then used as a vehicle for violent clashes. Do we really want to see that again?

 

I think 'nipping it in the bud' is the phrase before it escalates into something far worst and sinister.

 

The article you cited quotes two isolated incidents. It's a huge overreaction to a moral panic that seems to have come out of nowhere, when the reality is pitch invasions happen as innocent celebrations every season. This is just yet another attempt to justify the overpolicing of ordinary members of the public and the criminalisation of the vast, vast majority of football fans.

Edited 28 July 2022 by Voll Blau

[Brainy]

But again, how about......... just don't do it?