Watching football is not a crime is a new monthly show where we talk about football issues that affect Football fans.

this first episode we are joined by Amanda Jacks from the FSF.

The reason the police are legally able to harass British citizens in this way is because of something known as Section 27. A part of the 2006 Violent Crime Reduction Act, S27 allows Plod to move people from a certain area for a 48 hour period if there is a belief that an alcohol-related offence may be committed.

The law was originally passed so that two groups of drunken yahoos in a pub on a Friday night might both be sent 500 yards in the opposite direction. It was not intended to deprive peaceful Plymouth fans – fans that have travelled hundreds of miles to see their team – of watching live football.

“What Section 27 does,” says Malcolm Clarke of the Football Supporters’ Federation, “is treat football fans in a way that no other section of society would be treated. The way it’s being used certain police forces is to assume that all fans are gathering to get drunk and cause trouble.

People are innocent until proven guilty. Except, it seems, football fans. The same football fans who, recent arrest figures show, boast one troublemaker for every 100,000 people who attend each weekend’s games.

Senior officers are said to be dismayed at how S27 is being implemented. But reports from on the ground seem to show what history has already taught us: that if you give the police too much power, they will misuse it.

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