Wolves top Midland hooligan league of shame

Oct 10 2010 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

HUNDREDS of football hooligans were banned from Midland football clubs for violent behaviour last season, shock new figures have revealed.

Leeds United topped the league of shame with 162 thugs barred from attending games home and away.

But Wolverhampton Wanderers were fifth in the list of 92 clubs, with 98 hooligans hit by banning orders last season after causing trouble inside or outside grounds.

There were 79 fans barred at Aston Villa, 73 at Birmingham City and 37 at West Bromwich Albion, according to the new figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

The survey also showed disturbing evidence that teenagers are being “trained” by veteran soccer hooligans, with the number of young thugs trebling in three years.

Police chiefs fear the worrying trend could signal a new generation of yobs prepared to plunge UK football back into the dark days of the violence-plagued 70s and 80s.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt, ACPO spokesman on football policing, said: “If they’re engaging in football-related disorder at an earlier age, then we’re going to be stuck with that sort of behaviour potentially for some while.

“People are coming through and engaging in football disorder who weren’t around in the heyday of football violence. It’s a worrying trend.”