The Cost of Policing Football

On Thursday Hereford United manager Graham Turner explained that he was very concerned at efforts by West Mercia Police to charge for officers deployed around Edgar Street or in the vicinity before, during, and after a football match was taking place.

Currently Police only charge for officers on duty inside the stadium but Turner's concerns were increased when last Friday evening there were dozens on police on duty for the visit of Swindon Town.

Coventry City are another club being pressed by their local police force to contribute more for policing around their stadium on match days.

Last season policing Coventry City football matches reportedly cost the taxpayer £230,000. The total bill for match day policing at the Ricoh Arena was £430,000. The club paid £200,000 of that - but the police force picked up the rest of the cost.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has called for clubs to pay all the costs of policing matches, claiming communities were in effect subsidising the clubs.

West Midlands Police's Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hyde explained the situation:

"We accept that football is part of our culture. It is a major part of our local economy and it gives people huge excitement and interest.

"We want to keep that going and we are working with the clubs in the region to ensure it is clear what they are being charged for policing.

"It attracts large crowds and there is a high risk that you can get to a situation where people want to fight. Our role is to prevent this and bring people to justice."

During last season the total police bill for Coventry City included up to six hours of policing for each home game.

Admittedly Coventry City is a much bigger club than Hereford but the fact that it already pays £200,000, or around £8,000 per home match, and the police are looking for a higher contribution (over £17,000 if met in full) suggests that clubs like Hereford United would have real difficulty in meeting the kind of payments West Mercia Police are looking for.

Take the Swindon game for example - it was suggested that 50 or so police officers were on 'football' duty that evening. It is understood that Police are looking to cover costs for up to six hours per officer.

Whilst no offical figures are available it is believed that Police are talking of a figure of £50 per hour per officer.

So 50 officers for six hours at £50 per hour comes to £15,000 for just one match.

This example equates with Turner's words.

To put this particular match in perspective, our matchday receipts were around £30,000. VAT is then deducted plus other matchday expenses such as security, gatemen etc and, finally, the Football League take 5% of the remainder.

The schedule of charges imposed by the police for this particular match would be nearly threequarters of what was left, leaving us with about £5,000.

So the bill for last Friday's game with Swindon would have been £15,000 if the Police had their way.

There is no way that a club like Hereford United could afford that sort of figure.

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