Arrests

[Clyde1998]

The Home Office has published the arrest statistics for the 2023-24 season.

We had 34 arrests in the 2023-24 season, the highest in League One. This is up from nineteen in the 2022-23 season and nine in the 2021-22 season. The next highest in the division were: Bolton (27); Oxford (24); Derby (24); Barnsley (22); Wigan (20).

These arrests have been categorised as:

• Violent disorder - 25
• Entering the pitch - 3
• Public disorder - 2
• Missiles - 2
• Pyrotechnics - 2

The specific matches were arrests of Reading fans occurred were:

1. 29 August - Ipswich (H; LC) - 1 (entering the pitch)
2. 10 October - Swindon (H; LT) - 2 (violent disorder)
3. 28 October - Portsmouth (H) - 1 (public disorder)
4. 7 November - Bristol Rovers (H) - 1 (violent disorder)
5. 25 November - Wycombe (A) - 3 (2x violent disorder; 1x missiles)
6. 9 December - Barnsley (H) - 3 (1x violent disorder; 1x missiles; 1x pyrotechnics)
7. 12 December - Oxford (H) - 18 (violent disorder)
8. 1 January - Exeter (H) - 1 (entering the pitch)
9. 3 February - Oxford (A) - 2 (1x pyrotechnics; 1x public disorder)
10. 9 April - Bristol Rovers (A) - 1 (violent disorder)
11. 27 April - Blackpool (H) - 1 (entering the pitch)

There were additionally 29 opposition fans arrested in relation to matches against Reading:

1. 26 August - Exeter (A) - 1 (public disorder)
2. 10 October - Swindon (H; LT) - 3 (violent disorder)
3. 28 October - Portsmouth (H) - 3 (2x pyrotechnics; 1x public disorder)
4. 7 November - Bristol Rovers (H) - 4 (3x pyrotechnics; 1x public disorder)
5. 12 December - Oxford (H) - 14 (violent disorder)
6. 16 December - Lincoln (A) - 1 (violent disorder)
7. 3 February - Oxford (A) - 1 (public disorder)
8. 10 February - Charlton (H) - 1 (pyrotechnics)
9. 9 April - Bristol Rovers (A) - 1 (public disorder)

[elrey]

I'm impressed. For a club with a reputation of having boring, middle class supporters, to get number one on the arrests is an achievement. The club has more dicks than people would actually have thought.....

[Clyde1998]

I'm impressed. For a club with a reputation of having boring, middle class supporters, to get number one on the arrests is an achievement. The club has more dicks than people would actually have thought.....

It does feel like there's a clear 'anti-social' nature about some of the younger supporters coming through for whatever reason.

That said a lot of the arrests related to the home game against Oxford where the police put out a couple of statements regarding the demographics of people they arrested and most were in their 30s and 40s. I imagine games like that will attract people looking for trouble, even those who typically wouldn't care about the football match.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm impressed. For a club with a reputation of having boring, middle class supporters, to get number one on the arrests is an achievement. The club has more dicks than people would actually have thought.....

It does feel like there's a clear 'anti-social' nature about some of the younger supporters coming through for whatever reason.

That said a lot of the arrests related to the home game against Oxford where the police put out a couple of statements regarding the demographics of people they arrested and most were in their 30s and 40s. I imagine games like that will attract people looking for trouble, even those who typically wouldn't care about the football match.

I'm reminded of a point when I had a ST and a couple of guys showed up in seats nearby for pretty much the only time I saw them in what must be four years in the same area.

One of them spent the whole game glaring at the opposition fans and spitting bile. He looked like they'd shit on his mother's corpse in front of him and he might have an aneurism there and then.

He was probably 30s/early 40s.

The teens are mostly loud and obnoxious but harmless from what I've seen over the years

[stealthpapes]

Like a good graph or figure me

[Clyde1998]

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news ... newalling/

Reading FC payments to police by calendar year:

2015 - £43,402.26
2016 - £36,119.18
2017 - £53,451.00
2018 - £39,737.82
2019 - £84,212.00
2020 - £16,930.92
2021 - £3,264.00
2022 - £9,084.00
2023 - £6,863.95
2024 - £83,823.84

[AthleticoSpizz]

The RC link is behind a paywall Clyde

Why the big hike in 2024? (Bearing in mind, we’re still in the last quarter of it)

[Clyde1998]

The RC link is behind a paywall Clyde

Didn't realise there was a paywall.

The full article:

Payments by Reading FC to Thames Valley Police fell by tens of thousands of pounds last year, The Reading Chronicle can reveal - after the police force tried to block the figures being made public.

Police forces across the UK can invoice clubs for providing a police presence within stadiums during matches, as part of a "special police service."

Reading FC had been paying around £51,000 a year on average between 2015 to 2019 - but last year the force received £6,863.

The club had paid Thames Valley Police £84,212 in the calendar year 2019.

White other police forces like the Metropolitan Police Force regularly publish special police service charges for football matches, Thames Valley Police had originally refused a Freedom of Information request around payments .

The force had cited concerns around law enforcement and commercial interests.

Working with Thames Valley Police And Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, we were able to overturn the original rejection of a Freedom of Information request - which was found to be in the public interest.

A previous FOI request made in December last year showed that half way through the 2023/24 season the force had been paid 27p by Reading Football Club for that season.

Updated figures - which cover this calendar year - record payments totalling £83,823.84.

A spokesperson from the club said the reduction in payments was due to "intelligence" indicating a change in policing need.

The spokesperson said: "When determining the level of policing required for a home fixture, a whole host of intelligence is taken into consideration.

"The initial reduction in costs at the outset of the Covid pandemic is due to behind closed doors fixtures, and following the return of spectators the intel we garnered deemed a police presence was not required to the same level as it previously had been.

"The rise in costs for 2024 can be accounted for due to high profile fixtures taking place with an increased disturbance level expected."

Reading FC was "very proud" of its safety record at the stadium, according to the club representative.

Since 2015, crowd numbers have fallen at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, which has a capacity of around 24,000 people.

The decision for police officers to be within the footprint of the stadium is "a decision for the football club, although consultation will be made with police forces and safety advisory groups," according to a spokesperson from Thames Valley Police.

Minutes from Reading FC safety advisory groups obtained by The Reading Chronicle have been heavily redacted in relation to comments around policing.

But at the last SAG meeting in January, the 2023/24 season was labelled as "difficult" by a police representative.

Minutes from the meeting show that across 36 games, seven were deemed low risk, three were classed as medium risk, and one game was labelled as high risk.

In the week before this meeting, Reading's home game against Port Vale had to be abandoned due to a pitch invasion by fans, who also hurled tennis ball on to the pitch in protest of Dai Yongge's ownership of the club.

Three months earlier on the day of club's fixture against Portsmouth FC, hundreds of fans staged protest around the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Reading FC fan group STAR declined to comment on the police payment figures.

Figures around other club's police payments obtained by the paper show that Portsmouth FC always paid the amount invoiced from 2015 to 2024.

The club's payments to Hampshire Constabulary ranged between £31,946 and £90,680, with the club paying £50,419 for the 2022/23 season.

Peterborough paid its local force £31,181 for the 2023/24 season, and £32,113 for the 2022/23 season.

Crowds were prohibited at football games during the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020, with some limited easing of restrictions in December 2020, and then all restrictions being lifted for the 2021/2022 season.

It's a bit odd re-reading this, as the article focuses on a reduction in police expenditure but shows a massive rise for this calendar year.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Yeah, I’m reading it like it is making-up for previous overdue/under payments?

Thanks for the link.

[Clyde1998]

Why the big hike in 2024? (Bearing in mind, we’re still in the last quarter of it)

I don't know if any previous payments had been missed and were finally paid in 2024. That's the most obvious thing for me, as even a increasing in policing presence at the stadium wouldn't account for such a big jump and would help explain why policing costs were so low following Covid until this year.

If we take the annual average since 2022, it's been just over £33k p/a and that would be within the range mentioned in the article for both Peterborough and Portsmouth.

The article does say "The rise in costs for 2024 can be accounted for due to high profile fixtures taking place with an increased disturbance level expected", but our highest profile home fixtures last season were all in 2023 (Swindon; Portsmouth; Bristol Rovers; Oxford) unless I've forgotten something.

[Millsy]

The Home Office has published the arrest statistics for the 2023-24 season.

We had 34 arrests in the 2023-24 season, the highest in League One. This is up from nineteen in the 2022-23 season and nine in the 2021-22 season. The next highest in the division were: Bolton (27); Oxford (24); Derby (24); Barnsley (22); Wigan (20).

These arrests have been categorised as:

• Violent disorder - 25
• Entering the pitch - 3
• Public disorder - 2
• Missiles - 2
• Pyrotechnics - 2

[Snowflake Royal]

It reads like we skimped on policing post Covid, and there were relatively few risks at the time, but with relegation to a new division including regular protests and testy games against the likes of Oxford they've sky rocketed, which to be honest is hardly a surprise.

Stevenage and Peterborough fans don't have a great reputation, for example.

[Clyde1998]

Six more people charge after the Oxford home game: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlny3p8n6no

[Clyde1998]

Good this has been followed through:

Eight men have been given suspended prison sentences and football banning orders after violent disorder broke out ahead of a Reading FC and Oxford United match in December 2023.

The sentences were handed down at Reading Crown Court on Friday, 5 December, following a Thames Valley Police investigation into confrontations that took place in St Mary’s Butts, Friar Street and Station Approach at about 15:40 GMT on 12 December last year.

The court heard that a group of individuals gathered in several locations in Reading town centre before engaging in violent disorder.

Those sentenced were:

1. Ashton Hastie, 36, of Abingdon — one year and seven months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, plus 150 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days.
2. Ryan Ellaway, 36, of Wantage — one year and two months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 15 RAR days and 12 mental health treatment sessions.
3. James Barnes, 37, of Wantage — one year and nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, alongside a 90-day alcohol monitoring requirement, 120 hours unpaid work and eight RAR days.
4. Colin Whiteley, 58, of Oxford — one year’s imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, plus 20 RAR days, a 12-month alcohol treatment requirement and 80 hours unpaid work.
5. Ben Britter, 50, of Thatcham — one year and nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and 180 hours unpaid work.
6. Matthew Hinge, 35, of Wokingham — one year and nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 20 RAR days and 150 hours unpaid work.
7. Daniel Taylor, 34, of Reading — two years’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, plus 10 RAR days and 180 hours unpaid work.
8. Craig Green, 35, of Carterton — one year and eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 15 RAR days and 180 hours unpaid work.

All eight men were also issued three-year Football Banning Orders and must each pay a £187 victim surcharge. Green, Whiteley and Ellaway were ordered to pay £100 in costs, while the remaining five defendants must pay £250.

Superintendent Adrian Hall, Head of Operations at Thames Valley Police, said the force would continue working with football clubs to ensure matches remain safe.

“This behaviour has absolutely no place in football, and we will not tolerate it,” he said.

“While the overwhelming majority of fans attend matches peacefully, a small minority choose violence and disruption. Football Banning Orders carry tough conditions, including restrictions on attending matches in the UK and abroad and requiring offenders to surrender their passports when England play overseas.”

He added that police would “continue to work in conjunction with clubs to make football matches a hostile place for all football-related offences.”

[Clyde1998]

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news ... f-city-fc/

They must have some sort of expectation of something happening. They didn't do this for Plymouth despite the abnormally large police presence in town.

Last game I remember dispersal areas being in place was against Oxford a few years ago.

Putting this here instead of the Cardiff match thread to keep that about the match:

Following a Thames Valley Police operation, three people were arrested and two people charged following the Reading FC vs Cardiff City FC football match on Saturday (18/4).

Gareth Whitehouse, aged 41, of West Lee, Cardiff, was charged with one count of being threatening or abusive in a way which is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress yesterday (19/4). Officers intervened on Greyfriars Road after Whitehouse attempted to engage in disorder.

Lewis Campbell-Williams, aged 20, of Lenham Road, Headcorn, Kent, was charged yesterday (19/4) with possession of a bladed article and theft from a shop, after being arrested at the stadium.

They were both released on bail to appear at Reading Magistrates’ Court on 3 June separately.

A 15-year-old boy from Reading and a 17-year-old boy from Croydon were each arrested on suspicion of breaching a Section 34 dispersal order which was in place for the match. A child protection referral has been made, with appropriate safeguarding measures put in place.

As part of the policing operation, officers identified and arrested a 17-year-old boy from Reading in connection with an ongoing rape investigation unrelated to the football match. The boy has since been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Dedicated football officer for Reading FC, PC Steve Mountain, said: “We would like to thank members of the public for their cooperation while the Section 35 dispersal orders were in place.

“The dispersal orders were enacted as a preventative measure to help ensure the safety of fans and local communities in the area.

“Following Saturday afternoon’s fixture, officers made a number of arrests and charges. This highlights the important role of dedicated football policing operations, including the work of trained football spotters, who help identify individuals of concern and support a safe and enjoyable environment for the vast majority of supporters.

“Our officers and spotters work closely together at matches and beyond to protect communities and prevent disorder.”

Someone from Kent arrested for possession of a 'bladed article'

Would say the Section 34 dispersal order appeared to be complete overkill though.