Bringing The Obama Effect to Saturday’s Football

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Police are urging fans travelling by rail to football matches this Saturday (8 November) to emulate the Americans and turn a page in history.

“The election of Barack Obama to the White House has turned a page in world history – now’s the time for football fans to do the same,” said Superintendent Colum Price from British Transport Police.

“It may seem a bit of a stretch to link Senator Obama with British football fans, but his election has brought with it a new sense of optimism, and we are also optimistic that the trend of increasing problems associated with some travelling fans can be reversed.

“The 2007/2008 season was definitely a challenging one for us. Alcohol-fuelled disorder was the most prevalent problem, with an increase from 305 to 337 incidents. We also had 25 police officers assaulted during the season – the highest number ever recorded by BTP.

“This season we have seen many of the same problems and this Saturday there will be a big police operation around travelling fans involving almost 500 officers around Britain.

“This is a chance for that small minority of fans to turn their backs on anti-social behaviour and violence and begin a new era in football.”

BTP’s operation will focus on 15 fixtures around the country. “Our aim is to ensure football fans and other passengers can enjoy their day out in safety and without being subjected to drunken displays and anti-social behaviour by some travelling fans,” said Superintendent Price.