Why the FA will clamp down on pitch invasions
Towards the end of the 2021/2022 footballing season, one thing seemed to be dominating much of the news: pitch invasions.
As seen on Sport mania, there were countless incidents of running onto the pitch – even before the games have ended. Whilst this is something that has been happening since football began, it seemed to be something of a more potent trend in this past season.
For example, AFC Bournemouth routinely invades the pitch on the final game of the season – so it was to nobody’s surprise when it occurred after winning the promotion. And because it was peaceful, it won’t be remembered – even three off-duty police officers were caught joining in.
However, many of the invasions turned ugly, and in a very short space of time. It began with the shocking headbutt to Sheffield United’s captain Billy Sharp, to which Sharp said “one mindless idiot ruined an incredible night”. The man was jailed.
No more than a couple of days later, Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira had kicked a pitch invader who was jumping in his face, cursing, and filming it. Patrick is not facing criminal charges, but it highlighted a huge concern – that Patrick assumed he was going to get attacked, because it had happened so recently to Billy Sharp.
What was unique about this incident was that two invasions happened in one night, with the first occurring on the 85th minute after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal. So, the game hadn’t even ended yet.
Although there have been others, another highly watched game was when Manchester City came back from being two goals down to win the league. Just a couple of days after Vieira’s incident, Steven Gerrard claimed Villa’s goalkeeper, Robin Olsen, was attacked.
Gerrard asked Pep to respond to the incident, to which Pep stated “I’m so sorry on behalf of the club. The emotions, it’s difficult to understand why the people respond in this way. Hopefully, we can discover who it was and he’ll be punished. I don’t know how to stop it, you cannot put 1,000 guards .”.
The number of attacks inside one week of football in the biggest league in the world was truly staggering, and something that needed addressing. There was even an assumption that one of the Villa players would get attacked before the invasion even started, which is why the question of if any Villa players come out unscathed was put to Gerrard in the first place.
The FA’s immediate response
The FA’s main statement came in response to the Vieira incident. “Football stadiums should always be a safe and enjoyable space for everyone, and these incidents are completely unacceptable and have no place in our game.
“It is illegal to enter the pitch area in any stadium and these actions are putting players, fans and people who run the game at great risk. This simply cannot continue and we can confirm that we are investigating all of the incidences.”
Because the police and stewards had failed to stop the thousands of invading Evertonians, Palace are being asked to speak to the FA and send in their full observations.
Klopp denounced the “dangerous” pitch invasions whilst the FA stepped up its probe and pledged to review the rules in regards to this epidemic. However, even the usually-opinionated Klopp admitted that he is “not sure how you avoid that”
What could some of the future measures be?
Many were suggesting that the FA were considering fences, but unsurprisingly they were not brought in. it would be unlikely for them to be a permanent installation, seeing as most pitch invasions happen at the end of the season. Police Chief Mark Roberts claims that clubs may need to put up barriers in the future.
More police were called upon for the City game. And, through creating a ring around the tunnel, they managed to create a small safe space for the stewards to escort the likes of Kevin De Bruyne into. Of course, not all players got such treatment. Trouble getting back down the tunnel is one of the main concerns, because it can mean players being stuck on the pitch for a long time.
Flares have also been an increasing issue over the years, despite supposedly thorough security checks at the gates. There were rumours that an epileptic Palace fan had suffered seizures as a result of a flare, who then had to be treated at a nearby hospital. But, there is no official reporting on this to verify.
Taking into consideration Northampton and Huddersfield’s aggressive invasions during two different play-off games, there were dangerous events to happen on almost every night of the week – something that should be expected, anticipated, and handled better on the final weeks of the 2022/2023 season. Although football invasions are nothing new, the safety of the fans and players always needs to be something that progresses and improves over time.