Manchester United may be languishing in the Premier League’s mid-table this season, but they’re head and shoulders clear of the pack for alcohol offences.
The footballing giants made up one third of the number of detentions for alcohol offences during the 2012/13 Premier League season, incurring 80 arrests.
Finishing 49 points ahead of your competitor is unheard of in football, but this was the chasm for alcohol offences between United and second-placed Chelsea.
Dr Geoff Pearson, MUST committee member and researcher in the field of football hooliganism and policing, said United’s world-wide popularity could account for the high arrest numbers.
Dr Pearson said: “I don’t think it’s a problem that United have significantly more arrests. I think there are a number of factors that are at fault for that.
“One is obviously the size of the crowd. Inevitably you’re going to have more people arrested because you’ve got a bigger crowd.”
According to The Football Spectators Act 1989, spectators can be arrested for taking alcohol into the ground or consuming it travelling to or from the stadium.
The Red Devils incurred almost four times as many alcohol-related arrests than neighbours Manchester City and eight times as many than Arsenal.
Dr Pearson said: “You get a lot of arrests at United for breach of alcohol regulations, by taking alcohol into the stadium.
“A lot of non-UK United fans go there and are caught out by the alcohol laws. A lot of them genuinely don’t know that it’s a criminal offence.
“Generally the arrests that happen at United are for very low-level offences – we’re not talking violence or fighting here.”
Despite Manchester United’s unparalleled alcohol related arrest numbers, detentions for these offences went down from 800 in 2011/12 to 549 in 2012/13 for all clubs.
Home Office figures not only highlighted the staggeringly high alcohol offences at Old Trafford last season but also the high number of banning orders imposed.
Manchester United enforced 17 banning orders against risk supporters between November 10 2012 and September 20 2013 –higher than any Premier League club.
Overall there were 2,456 arrests in connection with all international and domestic football matches during the 2012/13 season – a 4% rise on the 2011/12 season.
Image courtesy of parrot of doom, with thanks
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