Revealed: The London football club with the most ‘hate crime’ arrests

Chelsea’s home fans are more likely to be arrested for hate crimes than other London Premier League teams, Daily Mail analysis shows.

Football fans attending Stamford Bridge are twice as likely to be punished for racism or homophobia-related offenses as Chelsea’s London rivals, according to Met Police data and attendance statistics.

Fans attending home matches of Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, Leyton Orient and West Ham also make up the top five of the capital’s 12 stadiums in the top three tiers.

Police have arrested 119 people for hate crimes or hate-related public order offenses at football matches across 12 clubs in the 2024/25 season, according to data obtained by the Met Police through a Freedom of Information request.

Almost all of them were related to racism or homophobia, although there was one arrest for chanting a tragedy slogan.

Forty of them featured at Stamford Bridge in Chelsea’s 28 home matches in all competitions – they averaged 1.4 hate arrests per game – as they finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Europa Conference League.

Just under 1.1 million fans attended these matches, including fans from Belgium, Armenia, Ireland, Denmark, Poland and Sweden; however, no foreign fans have been arrested for hate crimes.

138 people were arrested for all crimes in the stadium.

The number of hate arrests at the stadium was more than twice that of other London clubs; It was the second most with 19 arrests at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

One of the 27,099 people who attended the match at Chelsea was arrested for hate-related crimes.

That’s more than twice as many as went to Loftus Road, which had the second-highest rate of one in 55,109 people being handcuffed for such offences.

The Den, home to Millwall, which has a historic reputation for hooliganism, came in third place, with one in 61,293 fans arrested for a hate crime.

Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road was one in 69,814 and West Ham’s London Stadium was one in 88,157.

Tottenham’s stadium came sixth with one arrest out of 91,159 attendees, while Emirates came ninth with one out of 128,762 attendees.

On the other hand, there was not a single hate arrest at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park.

At Craven Cottage in Fulham, just a mile from Stamford Bridge, the rate was one in 263,310; Fans were 10 times less likely to be arrested for hate crimes than Chelsea.

Arrests are just the tip of the iceberg, according to one expert, as many hate incidents go unreported.

Loughborough University Sports Sociology lecturer Dr. “Fans have told me they report problems to referees, clubs or the police and the complaint disappears,” Mark Doidge told the Daily Mail.

At the same time, European Football Fans Anti-Discrimination Department Director Dr. “After that, they feel hopeless and less likely to complain in the future,” Doidge said.

‘I have also heard stories of club officials minimizing the experience so that it would not appear as an incident in the reports.

‘That’s why [growing] ‘The figures can be seen as a positive because it means the police and the clubs are taking the incident seriously – except, of course, if it’s that bad it’s impossible to dismiss it as just a ‘joke’.’

He added that while fans with disabilities often face hate crimes that go unreported or go un-aggravated, sexism, including misogynistic slogans or comments, is not a hate crime under the law.

‘This is usually not reported to the police unless there is a physical threat.’

A spokesman for football’s anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out admitted it was ‘no surprise that hate-related arrests are a problem in London stadiums’ and that they ‘know people who have been kept away from football for years after being discriminated against at matches’.

‘We know this is a problem that will not be solved,’ they added.

But some clubs believe the higher arrest rates are down to tighter security measures and show they take hate crimes seriously.

This also reflects that supporters may feel comfortable reporting to others when they have not done so in the past.

The data provided only looks at arrests and does not mean that all were convicted.

Overall stadium arrest figures also include away fans.

West Ham had the highest number of fans arrested for hate crimes with 13, but attendance numbers were significantly higher than at Stamford Bridge

Since clubs do not provide exact attendance for away matches, an exact arrest rate cannot be calculated separately for home and away fans.

In terms of hate arrests at home, West Ham fans top the list with 13 arrests for such offences.

During the season, 12 Chelsea home fans were charged with hate crime.

But West Ham’s 62,500-capacity London Stadium dwarfs Stamford Bridge’s 40,000 seats.

The Irons also saw 150,000 more fans attend matches compared to their London rivals last season.

Arsenal saw eight fans arrested for hate incidents and Tottenham finished fourth with eight fans.

Millwall had six home supporters; Brentford, QPR, Wimbledon and Leyton Orient had two supporters, while Charlton had one.

Neither Fulham nor Crystal Palace had a fan arrested for hate crimes.

Fans face Football Banning Orders and imprisonment if convicted of offences.

Mark Mogan, 47, was accused of racially abusing Antoine Semenyo when his Bournemouth team faced Liverpool at Anfield in August, which led to the game being temporarily postponed in the 29th minute.

He appeared in court and was banned from all football stadiums in the UK as part of his bail conditions.

Following the alleged abuse, Semenyo, 25, said she wanted prison time and a lifetime ban as punishment for the racist abuse.

‘There must be something else the authorities can do,’ he said.

Last season, 46 Arsenal fans were arrested; this number was the highest among clubs in London

‘It’s mind-blowing to be honest. I don’t think punishment is enough when things like this happen. I feel like people are recovering from that.’

Asked what the punishment should be, he said: ‘He could go to prison, he could be banned from stadiums for life, anything like that, but I feel there should be something else.’

Last season, hate crimes were recorded in 420 matches across the country in England’s top five leagues.

Of the hate crime reports, 287 were related to race, 140 to sexual orientation, 20 to religion, 19 to disability, and three to gender identity.

The number of hate crime reports increased to 341 in the 2023-24 season.

A Kick It Out Spokesperson said: ‘Latest Home Office data shows there were 420 reports of hate crimes at stadiums across the country last season; This is a record since data collection began in 2017-18, so it’s no surprise that hate-related arrests are a problem in London stadiums.

‘Any incident of hate crime can have huge consequences for match-going fans. We know people who have stayed away from football after being discriminated against at matches for years.

‘Football has taken steps to make the game more welcoming, including some homophobic chants now being classed as hate crimes and therefore criminalized by the FA, but these figures show football cannot remain complacent.

‘Reports of discrimination against Kick It Out have also increased since last season, so we know this is a problem that won’t go away.’

“Sometimes it seems like hate crimes are on the rise, but that could also mean the police and clubs are taking it seriously,” Dr Doidge said.

‘At this point I think it’s positive because it means the clubs and the police are taking this seriously.’

Meanwhile, according to police data, the ‘most dangerous’ area in the capital is the Gtech Community Stadium, where one in every 6,887 people attending the match was arrested.

Stamford Bridge is in second place with one arrest out of 7,854 people. Den is in third place with one in 11,492.

Loftus Road, at one in 12,858, and The Valley, at one in 15,868, make up the rest of the top five.

AFC Wimbledon’s Plow Lane was the “least dangerous” last season, with just three fans arrested.

The League One club had a total attendance of 208,073, meaning only one in 69,357 people was arrested.

40 arrests for hate crimes have been made at Stamford Bridge in the 2024/25 season, including against home and away fans

One in every 6,887 people attending the match at Brentford was arrested, but seven in 12 were among those arrested for hate crime

Craven Cottage had the second lowest rate at one in 30,977. Brisbane Road came in third place, with one out of 29,920 fans arrested.

A Brentford FC spokesperson said: ‘Our priority is the safety and enjoyment of everyone attending the match day and we have strong security measures in place to ensure fans have a positive experience at our stadium.

‘We have zero tolerance for drug use, any form of hate crime, discrimination or violence and work hard to ensure they do not take place in our stadium – 70 per cent of all arrests last season involved visiting fans.

‘Our dedicated safety and security teams are working collaboratively with the relevant authorities to take action quickly, and we actively encourage reporting among fans via a text alert system and messaging around the stadium to make this as easy as possible.

‘We are proud that since our promotion to the Premier League in 2021, Brentford has been consistently rated as the most welcoming stadium in the Premier League’s matchday fan experience and engagement survey. We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure Gtech Community Stadium is a safe environment for all fans.

A QPR spokesman said the club ‘operates a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of discrimination and anti-social behaviour’.

‘We are working closely with the Metropolitan Police and local authorities to ensure MATRADE Loftus Road is a safe place for all supporters attending,’ they added.