The Football Association has begun a crackdown on what they believe is a new generation of potential troublemakers by issuing life bans to England supporters for the first time.
An investigation into the conduct of England fans’ behaviour around March’s friendly against Germany in Dortmund concluded with a total of 27 individuals suspended, a further six receiving warnings and one case pending.
The FA took the unprecedented step of banning two individuals for life after they were caught making offensive gestures towards Germany fans during England’s 1-0 defeat.
One of them was seen performing a Nazi salute while the other positioned two fingers to resemble a ‘Hitler moustache’ while making a ‘cut-throat’ signal with his other hand.
In Pictures | Germany vs England | 22/03/2017
It is understood the FA have grown increasingly disappointed by the boorish, alcohol-fuelled behaviour of a section of England’s travelling supporters and believe the problem is primarily driven by young males aged between 18-25 who treat away games with a same abandon to a stag weekend.
The two supporters who received life bans were males within this age bracket. The FA are concerned that the wider societal challenge of anti-social behaviour in city centres at weekends is reflected in the unsavoury elements of England’s fanbase.
However, the FA can only sanction members of the England Supporters’ Club; 59 individuals were referred by police following the Germany game yet only 20 were members. Sixteen of those made up the total of 27 who were suspended, with the rest identified by the FA and the England Supporters’ Club themselves. Suspensions usually range between six months and five years.
Theoretically, only members can secure tickets for away games but they cannot stop fans buying tickets in home sections where possible or prevent those with no intention of seeing the match from travelling.
Membership, which costs £65 every two years, requires applicants to go through a vetting process and around 22,000 checks have been conducted since 2014. Only 142 people have been banned based on the findings of those checks while members are forced to pick up their tickets from the city where the game is staged in a bid to stop them being passed on to non-members.
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The overall membership has also fallen dramatically in recent years with around 57,000 fans affiliated when Wembley opened in 2007 to around 8,000 members today; the drop is attributed to England’s underperformance, the lengthy travel involved at the last two World Cups (Brazil and South Africa) and a flawed ticket-allocation arrangement, quickly reversed, which did not promote loyalty among supporters who regularly attended away games.
Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland represents another high-risk match given the rivalry between the two countries. England’s allocation for the match stands at 4,761 and a new technique of marshalling fans will be implemented.
Two stewards with experience of both working at Wembley and with previous England crowds will supplement the FA’s existing security detail in a bid to help manage a fixture around which there are already heightened policing concerns given the 5pm kick-off time and recent terror attacks in Manchester and London.
A message has already been posted on the England Supporters’ Club website urging fans to support the team in the right way with further emails set to be sent out to those attending. Fans are encouraged to report any unacceptable behaviour through the England Supporters’ Club website.
