Posted on 13th March 2019
We’re looking for supporters’ experiences with police to help inform the north west’s IAG – a of group of fans that provide direct feedback to police on their match-day activities.
Posted on 13th March 2019
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
Last week we surveyed more than 1,000 Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United fans to get their thoughts on policing operation before and after the Steel City derby.
Some of the headline figures have already been reported, you can see those here, and now we can release the results of that consultation in more detail. Take a look below…
FSF Sheffield derby consultation
Pre-match
Post-match
South Yorkshire Police
Supporter engagement
When asked what they should do to improve their matchday policing, the most popular responses were:
What fans said
We asked supporters for their general feedback on the policing operation, here is just a small selection of the many comments left:
Treating the 99% of good natured football fans as hooligans creates an atmosphere of hostility which is not seen in any other sport or public event
Police are intimidating and unapproachable, they yell instructions and were hitting individual who did not follow them immediately even if unable to (I.e if the path was blocked)
Lost control. Had no idea what they were doing. Swinging batons at anyone they pleased
Atrocious, didn’t care and thought hitting people with batons when they tried to move in the crush of people was a good idea. Legalised assault on many occasions and absolutely unneccesary
Leppings lane policing was irresponsible, bottlenecking fans on the road at the same time caused multiple fights and distress to regular fans
I don’t understand why both sets of fans were allowed out of the ground at the same time. The road layout doesn’t change, so I don’t understand why they can’t plan an exit strategy well before a match. They just allow things to happen and try to react.
The FSF has approached South Yorkshire Police for a response to our survey’s findings, at the time of publication they have yet to respond.
Thanks to PA Images for the image used in this blog.
We’re looking for supporters’ experiences with police to help inform the north west’s IAG – a of group of fans that provide direct feedback to police on their match-day activities.
Sussex Police say they have learned lessons and taken action against senior officers following complaints from Crystal Palace fans who travelled to Brighton in November 2017.
Match-day policing is to come under the spotlight as part of a new research project being run by the EFL and Keele University.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill currently making its way through Parliament – here FSA caseworker Amanda Jacks discusses its potential impact on match-going fans…