Fan violence revives memories of British football's dark days

Britain's head of football policing has warned that coordinated action must be taken to stop fan violence spiralling out of control after a significant rise in disorder and arrests this season.

Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger and Aston Villa pair Matty Cash and Lucas Digne were hit by missiles thrown by fans during recent games.

At Southampton, stewards battled to restore order after Manchester City supporters invaded the pitch and threw flares.

Earlier this season, Manchester United and Leeds fans fought in the streets, while a teenager has been charged after three Nottingham Forest players were allegedly assaulted during Sunday's FA Cup win over Leicester.

The shocking incidents underline the growing cases of football hooliganism, bringing back memories of the violent dark days of the 1980s, when it was dubbed the "English disease".

Recent figures from the UK Football Policing Unit -- related to the top five divisions in English football -- show there were 802 football-related arrests in the first half of this season.

That is up nearly 50 percent from the figure of 547 in the same period during the 2019/20 season, before the coronavirus took hold and fans were locked out of stadiums.

A 36 percent rise in disorder in the period, from July 1 to December 31 2021, emphasises the difficulties facing police and the sport's authorities as they try to clamp down on the troublemakers.

The stark figures come after a recent report into violence at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, which found crowd trouble could have led to tragedy.

Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs' Council's football policing lead, wants an immediate, unified response from all parties and has called for an "urgent" meeting with Premier League chiefs, as well as