Stars blamed for new breed of football louts

A SENIOR police officer has blamed football’s millionaire bad boys for a “new breed” of drunken hooligans.

Superintendent Andy Ball said fans mimic the actions of some Premiership stars who “get away with behaving badly”.

Supt Ball spoke out after it was revealed that 25 British Transport Police officers were assaulted during the 2007/08 season on match days – the highest number ever.

He called on English football’s elite to “do their bit” by modifying their behaviour.

“We do have growing problems with youth groups and we need to recognise the threat they bring along to football,” he said.

“They bring a new dimension. They have less respect for authority and they are more inclined to drink heavily. “They see their role models being paid lots of money and behaving badly and they see that often these people are not sanctioned for it.

From a lay person’s perspective, this is a problem in society and these players have a role to play.”

Police are worried that fans who see their idols getting away with foul tackles, swearing at referees, getting drunk and falling out of night clubs and also cheating on their partners are inspired to copy them, leading to a new breed of hooligan.

Football bad boys over the past few seasons have included Newcastle United star Joey Barton, who served a jail sentence for his part in a street fight, and West Ham ace Craig Bellamy, who waved a golf club at his then Liverpool team mate John Arne Riise.

Supt Ball, who is in charge of BTP’s event planning and co-ordination unit, said officers were now facing growing problems from fans aged 16 to 22 whose aggression could be directly linked to the behaviour of the players.

He also claimed that alcohol-related violence and disorder on trains taking fans to matches had increased by 10 per cent, with drink-fuelled disorder rising from 305 to 337 incidents.

“Our job is to make going to football matches an unpleasant environment for them,” he said.

His comments came after the Football Association launched its Respect campaign to coincide with the start of the new season. Football bosses plan to clamp down on disrespect or aggression towards referees by encouraging officials to be tougher in applying the rules.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, said: “Whether they like it or not, footballers are role models and, while there may not be a proven link, if a player behaves well on the pitch it can only have a good effect on fans’ behaviour.”

DC Graham Naughton, a football intelligence officer with BTP, said the breed of younger hooligans posed a new threat, because they have no respect for the police and attack normal fans rather than fight rival hooligans.

He told Police Review magazine yesterday: “These younger groups are different. The core hooligans we are used to dealing with had some sort of code of conduct when they met to fight each other.

“For example, they would never attack what they classed to be ‘normal fans’ and they knew that if they bashed a policeman then they would be in deep trouble. These younger groups do not respect that.”