Match bans for 300 soccer thugs

Hundreds of violent football thugs in the West Midlands are banned from going to matches throughout Europe, new figures reveal today.

Police in the region have successfully prosecuted 300 hooligans who have caused trouble before, during and after games. They include scores of Wolves, Villa, Albion, Birmingham and Walsall yobs.

Football intelligence officers used covert cameras to record the behaviour of fans at games and make a case against them. Birmingham City fans currently have the most bans.

Figures show Blues tops the list of shame with 82 banning orders in place – Villa have 61, Wolves 55, the Baggies 41 and Walsall 19.

Among those given extended banning orders this year were eight Albion football thugs who clashed with rival Wolves supporters at the Tame Bridge pub in Great Bridge.

Glasses, stools and beer barrels were used as "missiles" when the two groups of football fans brawled following a game on February 20. Seven of the men were jailed but all eight were given banning orders by a judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.

Insp Howard Lewis-Jon-es, of West Midlands Police's football disorder unit, said today: "Banning orders are a real success because they work by stopping fans from doing what they enjoy the most, which is going to football matches."

Nationally, a total of 3,089 English and Welsh fans were arrested at international and domestic games in 2010/11, down 302 from the previous season – the lowest level since records began in 1984/5.

There were no arrests at 70 per cent of games and 92 per cent of those whose football banning orders have expired since 2000 were assessed by police as no longer posing a risk.

The number of football banning orders in place in November also fell, down to 3,173 from 3,248 last year.

These included 105 against Chelsea fans – 10 per cent of all the banning or-ders in the Premier League – 101 against Manchester United fans and 98 against Newcastle United fans.