BEVERLY HILLS, November 24, (THEWILL) – Fans of the English Premier League side Aston Villa were reported for the most alleged hate crimes last season when compared to fans of other teams, according to Home Office data.
A Freedom of Information request result seen by the Press Association showed that Villa fans were reported 13 times.
After Villa, in order from more to less, Wolves, Leeds and Tottenham fans were the subject of 10 reports each, while Chelsea fans were reported nine times.
They were followed by a group of eight clubs who recorded seven reports each in Manchester City, Sheffield United, Everton, Millwall, Leicester, Burnley, Portsmouth and Tranmere.
The United Kingdom Football Policing Unit received these reports which came from either the Football Association or the UK’s anti-discrimination body Kick It Out. Some portion of the reports could not definitively be assigned to a team and so do not feature in the club-by-club data.
Seven of the 13 incidents reported against Villa fans were related to race, five to sexual orientation and one to religion.
Of the 2,663 matches played in England and Wales last season, 287 matches were connected to the 319 hate crimes that were reported. Which implies, one in every 10 football matches last season saw a reported hate crime occur.
The FOI request found that when the professional game resumed in June and July after the first coronavirus lockdowns, only four reports of hate crime were made relating to matches played. And, for the first time, online incidents were included in the data collected.
Sanjay Bhandari, chair of Kick It Out, said in September, “We all need to do more and we all need to take a stand against discrimination.
“Kick It Out will play its part with campaigning, education and talent programmes that diversify the face of football. But this is everyone’s responsibility.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
