Entering a football match without a ticket? It will now be a criminal offence
Attending a football match without a ticket will become a criminal offense in England and Wales from this weekend.
It comes ahead of the Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday.
The new law follows a review by Baroness Louise Casey, which highlighted that lives were put at risk when thousands of ticketless fans stormed Wembley during the Euro 2020 final.
Offenders will now face a five-year football ban and a fine of up to £1,000.
Baroness Casey’s findings criticized weak enforcement of stadium breaches and called for tailgating to be criminalised.
Police Minister Sarah Jones told the Press Association: “This is a new law and of course the police are planning how it will be implemented.”
This gives officers “more arsenal” to “deter and then respond to individuals disrespecting paying fans by trying to get in without paying.”
He added: “This is something I don’t think any party can object to; it can’t be right that some people pay and some don’t, and that people are put at risk, endangered, while people follow behind.
“So we need an appropriate response and I think a £1,000 fine or a five-year football ban would be a great deterrent.”
Tailgating is when fans pass through stadium turnstiles by walking directly behind ticket holders.
Previously, there was no specific legal penalty for attending a football match without a ticket.
The Football Match Trespass Act will also make it illegal to knowingly attempt to enter a match by pretending to be a stadium member or game staff member with fake tickets, passes and accreditation documents.
This follows an independent review of the European Championship final at Wembley in north London on 11 July 2021.
Baroness Casey has identified more than 20 “bad misses” that could have resulted in serious injury or death for people trying to gain entry to England’s match against Italy without a ticket, and in some cases succeeding.
Approximately 100,000 people went to Wembley for the final and “about 2,000 of these entered the stadium without tickets” and there were 17 mass breaches of the gates in the 90 minutes from kick-off to the penalty shoot-out.
The new laws follow problems faced by Liverpool fans at the 2022 Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris.
In this instance, despite their attempts to pin the blame on Liverpool fans, the authorities were found to be at fault for the major problems surrounding the Stade de France.
While many fans were not allowed to enter despite having valid tickets for the match, the police also used pepper spray and tear gas.
Manchester City will face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday at 16.30.
