Football Banning orders.

Football banning orders are designed to prevent violence, disorder and other serious football-related offending before it occurs. They can prohibit an individual from attending regulated matches in the UK. They may require them to surrender their passport when specified overseas fixtures or tournaments take place.

The modern banning-order regime developed following serious disorder involving football supporters during the 1980s and 1990s. The legal framework is principally contained in the Football Spectators Act 1989, as amended by later legislation.

What Is a Football Banning Order?

A football banning order is a court order restricting a person's attendance at regulated football matches.

The order can also impose additional requirements, which may include:

• Reporting to a police station at specified times
• Surrendering a passport during an overseas control period
• Staying away from particular stadiums or surrounding areas
• Avoiding specified railway stations, town centres or public houses around match times
• Complying with other restrictions intended to prevent football-related violence or disorder

The precise conditions will depend on the circumstances and the terms imposed by the court or enforcing authority.

When Can an Order Be Made Following Conviction?

A court may make a football banning order when a person is convicted of a relevant offence, and the court is satisfied that making the order would help prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, regulated football matches.

Relevant offences can include:

• Violence or threatening behaviour
• Public order offences
• Racist or religiously aggravated offences
• Possession of weapons
• Criminal damage
• Throwing objects at a match
• Going onto the playing area without lawful authority
• Possessing or using pyrotechnics
• Alcohol-related offences connected with football
• Ticket-touting offences
• Certain offensive online communications connected with football

The offence does not always have to take place inside a stadium. Conduct on public transport, in a town centre, online or during travel to and from a match may be treated as football-related where the required connection is established.

Can an Order Be Made Without a Conviction?

Yes. A police chief officer or the Director of Public Prosecutions may apply to a magistrates' court for a banning order on complaint.

The court may make an order where it is satisfied that the person has previously caused or contributed to violence or disorder in the UK or elsewhere and that an order would help prevent future football-related violence or disorder.

This is a civil procedure, but the consequences of an order are serious. Evidence may include previous incidents, intelligence, video footage, social-media activity and conduct connected with matches abroad.

Is a Banning Order Automatic?

Where a person is convicted of a relevant offence, the court must consider whether a banning order should be imposed.

The court will examine the nature of the offence, its connection with football and whether an order would help prevent future violence or disorder. A person should not assume that the relatively minor sentence imposed for the underlying offence means that a banning order will also be minor.

How Long Does a Football Banning Order Last?

The duration depends on how the order is made and the sentence imposed for the offence.

Where an order follows conviction and the offender receives immediate imprisonment, the order must generally last between six and ten years.

Where an order follows conviction but no immediate prison sentence is imposed, it must generally last between three and five years.

An order made on complaint without a conviction must generally last between three and five years.

Which Matches Are Covered?

A person subject to a banning order is prohibited from attending regulated football matches in the UK.

The definition includes many matches involving:

• Premier League and English Football League clubs
• National League clubs within the regulated structure
• Welsh clubs participating in specified competitions
• England and Wales national teams
• UEFA and FIFA competitions
• Other designated matches and tournaments

The order may also affect attendance at overseas matches and travel during international tournaments.

Passport Surrender

Before specified international matches or tournaments, a person subject to a banning order may be instructed to surrender their passport to the police.

The passport is normally held during the control period to prevent travel to the host country. The individual may also be required to report to a designated police station.

Failure to surrender a passport or comply with reporting instructions can amount to a criminal offence.

Can an Exemption Be Requested?

A person may apply to the enforcing authority for an exemption from a particular reporting or passport-surrender requirement.

An exemption may be considered where there is a genuine need to travel, such as for employment, urgent family reasons or another important commitment.

Permission is not automatic. The application should be made promptly and supported by appropriate evidence, including travel and employment documents where relevant.

What Happens if an Order Is Breached?

Breaching a football banning order without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence.

A breach may include:

• Attending a prohibited match
• Entering an excluded area
• Failing to report to a police station
• Failing to surrender a passport
• Travelling abroad during a restricted period
• Ignoring another condition imposed by the order

A conviction can result in imprisonment, a fine and further restrictions. The fact that the person did not become involved in disorder at the match will not necessarily provide a defence to a breach of the order.

Online Abuse and Social Media

Football-related offending is no longer confined to stadiums and town centres. Racist abuse, threats, tragedy-related abuse and grossly offensive communications directed at players, supporters or officials can result in prosecution.

A court may impose a football banning order where the offence has the necessary connection with football and the statutory test is met.

Posting from home or using an anonymous account does not prevent the conduct from being investigated. Digital evidence may identify the account holder and establish the connection with a club, player or fixture.

Racism, Tragedy, Abuse and Discriminatory Conduct

Racist, religious, homophobic and other discriminatory behaviour can lead to arrest, prosecution, exclusion by the football club and a banning order.

Football clubs and governing bodies may impose their own sanctions independently of criminal proceedings. A person may therefore be excluded from a club's grounds even where no court order has been made.

Abuse relating to deaths or disasters connected with football may also amount to a criminal offence depending on the words, conduct and circumstances.

Pyrotechnics and Entering the Pitch

Possessing or using flares, smoke bombs and other pyrotechnic articles at football matches can result in prosecution and a banning order.

Entering the playing area without lawful authority is also an offence. A supporter does not avoid liability merely because the invasion was intended as a celebration or protest and no violence occurred.

These offences can create serious safety risks, interrupt matches and expose clubs to disciplinary action.

Alcohol and Football Travel

Specific restrictions apply to alcohol on certain coaches, trains and vehicles travelling to regulated football matches.

Possessing alcohol in prohibited circumstances, attempting to enter a stadium while drunk or taking alcohol into a restricted area can lead to removal, arrest and possible prosecution.

The exact rules depend on the form of transport, competition and circumstances of the journey.

Do Banning Orders Apply Only to Hooligans?

No. The term "football hooligan" has no single legal definition and can obscure the range of conduct covered by the legislation.

A banning order may be imposed following a single serious incident. It can also arise from online abuse, threatening communications or behaviour away from a stadium where the required football connection exists.

A person with no previous convictions may therefore still face an order.

Can an Order Affect Employment and Travel?

Yes. Reporting and passport-surrender requirements can interfere with employment, holidays and family commitments.

The order may also affect jobs requiring overseas travel, security clearance or attendance at sporting events.

These consequences do not prevent the court from making an order where the legal test is satisfied, but they may be relevant when the court considers its precise terms and duration.

Can a Banning Order Be Ended Early?

A person may apply to the court to terminate an order once at least two-thirds of its specified period has elapsed.

The court will consider matters including:

• The person's conduct since the order was made
• Whether all requirements have been followed
• The nature of the original behaviour
• Whether there remains a risk of football-related violence or disorder
• Any other relevant circumstances

Termination is not automatic merely because the person has completed two-thirds of the order.

Club Bans and Court Orders

A football club can impose its own stadium ban or withdraw a season ticket under its contractual rules.

A club ban is separate from a court-imposed football banning order. It may apply even where the person has not been convicted or where the court declines to impose an order.

Breaching a club ban may amount to trespass and could result in further sanctions. Still, it is not necessarily the same criminal offence as breaching a statutory banning order.

What Should You Do if You Are Accused?

Anyone arrested or interviewed about football-related disorder should obtain criminal legal advice immediately.

The prosecution may seek a banning order in addition to a fine, community order or prison sentence. It is therefore important to address both the criminal allegation and the evidence said to justify the order.

A solicitor can challenge whether the offence was football-related, whether the statutory test is satisfied and whether the proposed restrictions or duration are proportionate.

Preventing Football Disorder

Football banning orders have contributed to a wider system involving police intelligence, club stewarding, international cooperation and sanctions imposed by governing bodies.

Most supporters attend matches without causing any trouble. The orders are directed at individuals whose conduct creates a risk of violence or disorder rather than football supporters generally.

The objective is to intervene before disorder occurs, protect other supporters and prevent a small number of offenders from damaging the experience and reputation of the wider game.

Getting Legal Advice

A criminal law solicitor can advise on football-related offences, applications for banning orders, passport surrender, exemptions, alleged breaches and applications for early termination.

Advice should be obtained promptly because an order can have consequences extending well beyond the sentence for the original offence.

Disclaimer

Solicitors.com is not a firm of solicitors and does not provide legal advice. This page provides general information about football banning orders in England and Wales. Different provisions may apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the legal position will depend on the offence, order and individual circumstances.

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