Investment fails to tackle increase of football hooliganism in lower divisions

Hooliganism is rising in football's lower divisions despite huge investment in tackling violence.

Incidents of disorder increased in the First and Second divisions of the Nationwide League last year with arrests going up 15 per cent from 1,417 to 1,626, new figures show.

A Home Office minister yesterday denied that resources had been focused too heavily on Premiership clubs – where there has been a considerable drop in hooliganism – allowing the problem to grow in lower divisions.

Arrests for football-related violence at all matches, including internationals, fell by 6 per cent during the 2001-02 season, from 4,162 to 3,898. In league games, arrests were down 174 to 3,214, a 30 per cent fall from a decade ago. More than 27 million people went to league games last year.

Stoke City, promoted from the Second Division, suffered the biggest number of arrests, up from 49 to 143, followed by the Premiership's Sunderland (129) and the First Division clubs Manchester City (106) and Millwall (103).

John Denham, a Home Office minister, conceded there were still "problem clubs" with violent followers.

"We need to ensure that we make consistent use of the powerful football legislation in years to come," he said. "The huge majority of fans want nothing to do with violence; that is the good, strong message that comes out of these figures," he said.

There were 979 arrests in the First Division last year, compared with 816 in the previous 12 months, and in the Second Division the figure rose from 601 to 647.

Fans from the Second Division also had by far the largest number of football banning orders, with 401 issued.