INBRED RACISM

Last updated : 19 August 2003 By editor

Football hoolies are getting younger, and there are more of them.

From the Sun.

COPS are targeting a new generation of thugs defiling soccer, it was revealed yesterday. The crackdown comes as figures show football-related arrests soared by 19 per cent last season.

Police chiefs have launched a blitz to identify gangs of louts in their late teens and early 20s to stop them getting a grip on clubs.

Many of them are trying to copy yobs who caused mayhem in the early 1980s.

Supt Mick Harrison, of Staffordshire Police, said:

“We need to catch the new generation early to stop them becoming hardened hooligans.They will be banned from all grounds and from travelling abroad for games.”

The worst Premiership club for arrests was Birmingham City. Cops held 137 Blues fans at home and away games compared with 55 in 2001-2002.

Aston Villa had 91 (60), Chelsea 92 (63), Everton 108 (65), Man U 134 (96), relegated Sunderland 154 (130), and West Brom 62 (35).

But arrests FELL among Arsenal, Blackburn, Manchester City, Southampton, Tottenham and West Ham fans.

Arrests for racist chanting were up 57 per cent during last season — from 47 to 74.

The worst offenders were in Yorkshire — home to Bradford City, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United.