4
Behaviour of supporters
4.1
General
Section 2 has already
sketched a general picture of the football season.
Looking at incidents as a
whole, and their nature, it is reasonable to call this a “relatively quiet
season”. Both the overall number of incidents and arrests were down on last
season. As noted earlier in this report, the number of arrests in no way
suggests that football hooliganism is on the increase or decrease – although
other parties do indeed draw this conclusion. The same applies to the total
number of incidents. It is not the total but the gravity of the incidents
that can tell us something about any possible rise or decline in football
hooliganism.
Based on available data
the CIV believes that it is fair to say that, in any event, football
hooliganism did not increase last season.
4.2
Arrests
4.2.1
General
Overall arrests this
season were down on the previous year. Total arrests in season 2001-2002
stood at 1887 compared with 1647 in the year under review.
Hence, this represents a fall of 240. The current total is slightly higher
than in the seasons 1998-1999 and 1999-2000.
4.2.2
Type of offences
Last year’s report noted
an increase in violence around football matches. This conclusion was based
on the section under which supporters were apprehended. The CIV then set out
a “top ten of offences” per age category.
The same type of overview
has been drafted for this year. Overall arrests were down on the previous
report year and hence also down on the absolute totals for the various
offences. However it is important to note the conclusion that rather than
rising, the total number of arrests based on violence has fallen.
Furthermore, we see
virtually the same type of offences in the top 5 for each category.
Overview of offences
