SOUTH Yorkshire Police cannot afford to maintain its current levels of policing at football grounds including Oakwell, according to a top policeman.
Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts has highlighted the issue of the eye-watering costs incurred by the force when officers are present at matches across the county following the release of a new report into how much is being spent.
The report, which was compiled by the police, reveals figures for South Yorkshire’s five professional English Football League (EFL) clubs - Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.
Costs generated by Barnsley Football Club totalled £284,289 - equivalent to £12,300 per home game - while more than £1.3m was spent across South Yorkshire as a whole.
Although clubs do provide financial assistance, the figure paid by police - including the support - still topped £1m, a staggering 114 per cent increase on the previous year’s £470,466.
DCC Roberts said: ‘Last year, nationally, only roughly a third of the costs could be recouped from clubs, and it is left to the police forces to cover the remaining costs, which ultimately means less police time spent in communities.
“In real terms if we didn’t have to subsidise football in this way we could recruit an extra 27 police officers to work in South Yorkshire. Football policing must be the only monopoly in the country to make a loss.
“Following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, relating to Ipswich Town FC, police forces have to cover the costs of the policing operations on streets adjacent to the grounds, which have been closed specifically because a match is taking place.
“Charging also doesn’t cover the work involved in keeping fans and members of the public safe in the surrounding areas, train stations and pubs before and after matches take place.
“I want to make it clear, this is not an issue we have with the clubs themselves - they are playing by the rules as they stand. It’s the charging framework that needs to be reviewed, as it doesn’t provide a sustainable position for police forces.”
Yorkshire derbies against Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Leeds United required more resources at Oakwell, according to the report, which said the average attendance at the home of Barnsley FC last season was 13,712.
But it’s not just the on-the-ground resources which are being stretched, according to DCC Roberts, as disorder inside stadiums has increased by 45 per cent in one year, from 587 incidents to 853, leading to more post-match investigations.
Assaults on club staff such as stewards also rose 38 per cent across South Yorkshire last season.
DCC Roberts added: “In the current climate of police funding, we simply can’t afford to continue subsiding football matches.
“Every officer deployed, or pound spent on policing games, is money and time taken away from neighbourhood policing or supporting vulnerable people.
“Together with the 45 per cent increase in disorder being seen within stadiums themselves and the national reduction of 20,000 police officers compared to 2010, this is simply not sustainable.
“Football is a multi-billion pound industry and the money involved is eye-watering. In a recent Deloitte report, it stated during the 2016/17 season Football League clubs spent a total of £328m on transfers, which is significantly more than the total budget to run South Yorkshire Police for a year.
“While successive courts have ruled against the service in legal cases surrounding charging, the judges have consistently commented on the fact the current arrangements are unfair to the police.”
