© The Fan Experience Company 2023
Premier League clubs agree new measures to address rise in anti-social behaviour
Premier League clubs have unanimously agreed new measures to address the “unacceptable rise” in anti-social behaviour last season.
Such behaviour included gesturing, graffiti and online abuse, but in particular, ‘tragedy chanting’.
The decision was made at the league’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
The measures “will focus on criminal prosecution, the regulatory environment, enforcement, online abuse, education and communications”.
In a joint statement in March, Liverpool and Manchester United managers Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag called for an end to ‘tragedy chanting’.
Their fans have chanted about the Munich air disaster and the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies.
Last November, the Football Association expressed concerns over the rise of “abhorrent chants” related to the Hillsborough disaster, including by fans of Manchester City and Manchester United on their visits to Anfield last year.
Manchester United and Leeds United also “strongly condemned” chants about historic tragedieswhen they met at Elland Road in February.
At the time, the Premier League said it was “treating the issue of tragedy chanting as a priority and as a matter of urgency”.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the league said: “The measures are the output of a cross-football working group which was set up in December to explore available options to challenge the normalisation of such distasteful behaviours and incidents.
“The issues have continued to cause significant distress to the victims’ families, survivors and affected club supporters, in addition to damaging the reputation of the clubs involved and football in England and Wales.”
The Premier League added full details would be announced before next season as part of the Love Football, Protect the Game campaign.
Original article published 14.06.2023 on the BBC News website.
To view the full article, click here