The police have recently issued a policy document outlining their approach to people convicted of causing trouble at football matches, those people potentially receiving a Football Banning Order. In Lincolnshire, we aren’t overwhelmed with Premier League football teams, but that doesn’t mean the policy doesn’t apply to followers of local teams. Football supporters need to be aware, whatever team they follow.
We have a team of lawyers with years of experience of dealing with football related offending, and understand that people can find themselves accused of crime just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you find yourself in this situation, you should contact us as soon as possible.
The consequences
- Can prevent people from attending matches. This includes all designated football matches, which includes most organized games, whatever their popularity.
- Football Banning Orders can also force people to surrender passports at certain times or prevent travel to certain areas when matches are due to be played.
- You could be banned from town centres or forced to surrender your passport when teams are playing mid-week games in Europe, whether you follow that team or not.
As you can see the consequences can be drastic. If you are faced with a Football Banning Order the consequences can be much worse than being prevented from watching your team. The consequences for family life and work could be serious. The courts nearly always impose a Football Banning Order.
The police have also recently indicated their intention to prosecute people accused of “hate crime” in connection with football. This could cover, for example, abusing a player or other supporters, because of their sexuality. Or, it could include sending offensive tweets to your favourite centre-forward when he has just missed a vital penalty.
If you find yourself facing a prosecution and potential Football Banning Order, we have a team of specialists who can help. Get in touch.