Lord Mann (Lab)

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My Lords, that shows the ingenuity that doubtless may have been attempted. I am considering when that could be used, before the Bill becomes law, to assist the noble Lord in accessing a certain match that he is keen to watch.

There are other points that need considering by the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, and the Committee. First, facial recognition is coming in. Serie A already has facial recognition; it is not in widespread use, but the technology is required in Italy. There are certainly two Premier League clubs that are bringing in facial recognition for part of their stadium at the moment. I do not say that the interesting question of facial recognition “coincides”, but it sits alongside this.

Secondly, there is the issue of political agitators, whose aim is to get on the pitch—they have attempted to do so—and the question of players’ safety in relation to that is a factor. I think the last recorded case was an environmental protester of some kind getting on a pitch, but that is a serious issue in relation to player safety, which has rightly been taken as more important in recent times. That would actually back up the crusade of the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, to have this legislation come into place.

Thirdly, on policing issues, the last time this was a major problem in English football was not the Euro final. It was on 30 November 2023 at Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa. In a UEFA fixture, a club called Legia Warsaw from Poland were playing. The police and the safety advisory group of Birmingham City Council had not banned Legia Warsaw fans; in fact, 1,002 tickets had been sold to them, and they came to the fixture. Their numbers had been restricted, but another 1,000 came and attempted to force entry into the stadium, causing huge safety issues and immediate action by the matchday commander from the police and Aston Villa Football Club, who then closed the turnstiles and created other disorder outside as fans, both with and without tickets, could not get entry. That issue was identifiable; Legia Warsaw has had 35 fines from UEFA for fan behaviour.

For anyone who wants to know about hooliganism in football, hooligans put their stuff online. There are now websites and social media that are openly available for everyone to see. If anyone wants to know who causes the most problems, who are the worst, the nature of those problems and when they are most likely to occur, there is publicly available information. Legia Warsaw is known for being in the highest category of ultra-fans, given the problems they cause. They are a significant group of hooligans, as that term is used. This Bill will complement that. There was no collusion with staff there. It was an attempt at a forced break-in at a stadium.

I note that there is inaccurate discussion in the media at the moment of that incident and about policing. I have a report in front of me, an official police report, which I would like to quote from a little, because it is about another set of football supporters who are characterised in it as fanatical. The report says:

“This is expressed, among other things, in the lighting of flares”,

but,

“according to UEFA … and our police, there is no animosity between”

them and the supporters of the team they were playing, and this was not a high-risk match. This was Maccabi Tel Aviv playing Ajax in Amsterdam in November last year.

The report goes on to say that there was

“a special context, because of the war in the Middle East”.

The fixture also coincided with the national Kristallnacht commemoration in Amsterdam. There was “a daily pro-Palestine demonstration” at the railway station. This is from the official report, and there were supporters from a third club present in the city at the time: Fenerbahçe supporters, from Alkmaar in the Netherlands.

I want to quote regarding a couple of incidents, because this has been put in the media wrongly, not factually. This is the official statement of facts—the feitenrelaas—from the Dutch chief crown prosecutor, or whatever the equivalent title is, and the chief of police for Amsterdam. It is something that could be considered in this Bill. Should there be a statement of facts every time there is an incident? It is a requirement in the Netherlands to have a statement of facts. The night before the fixture, on a street called the Rokin, the report says that

“Around midnight … 50 Maccabi supporters pull on a Palestine flag hanging on a facade”.

That flag was removed and the video footage of it is on hooligan websites. It was put on by a Maccabi ultra-fan, one of those 50. A taxi was attacked at the same time on the same street, and other taxis were damaged. The hooliganism then was an issue and a problem.

The following day, the football match took place. During the day—the match was on an evening—there was one arrest by the police for a disturbance of the public order. There were no clashes between the fans or with local people. The football match took place, though there had been a problem because pro-Palestine demonstrators had attempted to go to a square in Amsterdam called Anton de Komplein. The report says:

“Upon arrival, this group splits up into small groups in search of the confrontation at the Arena”.


That is the Amsterdam arena: the football stadium of Ajax. Those are the specifics and the police deployment was there.

Additionally, it says in the next paragraph that there were

“social media messages confirming that there are groups … looking for a confrontation with Maccabi supporters”.

The police handled that throughout the day without such confrontations. However, the report goes on:

“After midnight, the problems arise due to small groups of rioters spread through the city centre and adjacent neighbourhoods. These groups commit violent hit and run actions, targeting Israeli supporters and people going out. These incidents take place in various places in the city centre”,


and it lists the 14 streets where that happened. It says:

“The police follow up on all reports”,


and the police patrol intervenes,

“where threats are visible and manage to keep rioters at a distance from Israelis. The police can prevent many incidents in this way. Nevertheless, rioters manage to commit serious assaults, resulting in injuries among Maccabi supporters. It appears to be particularly difficult for the police to take action against such flashpoints. Rioters move in small groups, on foot, by scooter or car, briefly attack Maccabi supporters and then disappear again … Loose groups of Maccabi supporters are gathered”,

and the police basically say that this quickly dissipates over time as the number of rioters disappears.

Lord Mann (Lab)

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I shall be brief, because this is the last point I want to make from the report. It says:

“Several people were injured, five of whom were treated in hospital”.


Those five, I can confirm, were Israelis. It continues:

“Twenty to thirty Israeli supporters with minor injuries were taken in by the Jewish community”.


Now that is from the report of the chief of police. It goes on to detail the people who were arrested and where they were from. There were 49 Dutch arrested and 10 Israelis during that period. There were more Dutch arrested in the consequential days. That is a statement of fact from René de Beukelaer, the chief prosecutor, and the police chief, Peter Holla.

Lord Mann (Lab)

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The relevance of this is that the purpose of the Bill is to ensure safety at football matches. The interaction between the Bill and the need for guidance and guidelines, including for the police, on how it would be best used is fundamental to its success. Otherwise, what happens is that people will put things on social media suggesting that they are the facts of what happened, but those facts are fundamentally inaccurate. Having the Dutch system of a statement of facts as a potential amendment to this Bill would make a big difference.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)

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My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Brennan of Canton, should be very proud; I do not think there can be many people who have introduced the same Bill in consecutive Sessions, in two different Parliaments and two different Houses, with support from two different Governments. We thank him very much for his part in ushering these provisions on to the statute book.

The provisions flow from the review led by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey of Blackstock, commissioned by the Football Association, into the events at the Euros final at Wembley in 2021 and the sensible recommendations of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, of which I think the noble Lord was a member in another place in the last Parliament. The previous Government supported these provisions before the general election and these Benches are happy to reiterate our support today. I am glad that extends to my noble friend Lord Moynihan, who was the author of the parent Act that the noble Lord’s Bill will amend.

As noble Lords who have followed our other debates on football know, this is an area of public policy that usually passes me by. I have only ever been to one football match in my life, authorised or otherwise, and I cannot remember who won it, but I am looking forward this evening to seeing a play, “Gerry & Sewell”, which follows the adventures of two likely lads from Gateshead trying to obtain season tickets to see Newcastle United. It began in an arts space above a fried chicken shop in Whitley Bay and is playing the West End for the next two weeks. So, football touches the hearts of us all. We are very grateful to the noble Lord for his Bill and wish it a speedy passage on to the statute book.

Lord Brennan of Canton (Lab)

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My Lords, I thank everyone for their contributions this morning. This will be a very brief debate, I hope, which will soon come to a conclusion.

As has been said, this Bill emerged from the review of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, of the events at the Euros final on 11 July 2021, as referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson. I previously introduced the Bill in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, although it had completed Committee, it fell when former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took a walk in the rain; however, it was picked up subsequently by my colleague Linsey Farnsworth MP in the House of Commons. This slightly amended version of the Bill completed all its Commons stages. It is good to be here, having been there at the kick-off, for the final whistle very shortly.

The Bill’s intention is to create a deterrent to the sorts of scenes that were witnessed at the Euros final by making unauthorised entry into major football matches a specific offence subject to football banning orders. I thank my colleague, Linsey Farnsworth, who did an excellent job in steering the Bill through. I thank all the officials, both from government departments and the staff of this House, for their help and advice in giving this Bill its passage. I thank all the Members of your Lordships’ House who have attended and contributed to the debates on the Bill, in particular the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan. I understand from my noble friend Lord Spellar that he was formerly known, in his days as a Minister, as the “miniature for Sport” rather than the Minister for Sport, by Dennis Skinner. As somebody who is equally vertically challenged, I promise him that I will never use that term in public.

I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, for his remarks, reminding the public through his football knowledge how in touch we in the House of Lords all are. Finally, I thank my noble friend Lord Lemos for his comments from the Front Bench, and for his support for the Bill. I think we can all agree that, when all is said and done, at the end of the day, football is the winner. I beg to move.