Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday score just one alcohol-related arrest each in latest football season
Their record for booze-related bookings in the past 10 years was a combined figure of 12
Followers of Sheffield’s two teams saw one alcohol-related arrest each last football season - a stark contrast to Yorkshire rivals Leeds United.
The figures come following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s proposal to lift the ban on alcohol in the stands at football games - which sparked discussion on if fans can be trusted to drink responsibly at matches.
The PM says he is “fundamentally sceptical of any law which is only targeted at football supporters” when Rugby and concertgoers can do the same.
It has prompted pundits to examine the number of alcohol-related arrests and offences recorded at football games, which are released by the Home Office each year.
The annual statistics reveal how Leeds United fans hold the title for ending up in the back of police vans after too much booze in the last 10 years, with an average of around seven arrests a season and peaking at 15 bookings in the 2019/20 era.
Meanwhile, the club with the single highest number of arrests for alcohol-related offences in the past decade was Birmingham City in 2016/17, with 18 instances of followers being cuffed.
In Sheffield, figures show United fans get in more trouble than Wednesday’s supporters - but both behaved themselves remarkably well last season.
Blades fans have had 32 arrests for alcohol-related offences in the last 10 years, peaking at eight arrests in 2017/18.
In comparison, Owls supporters were booked 27 times in the same period, peaking at five in 2016 and 2021.
But both clubs recorded only a single arrest in 2026/26 - compared to Leeds United and Newcastle United, which saw eight each.
It bares comparison to 2017/18, when the two Steel City teams clocked up 12 arrests between them, which tied them with Manchester for the most incidents from a single city that year.
But, then again, Manchester’s two clubs have scored 110 arrests between them in the past decade.
Fans have not been allowed to drink in view of a pitch since 1985, when Margaret Thatcher's government outlawed it in English and Welsh football grounds in the top five tiers. Then-home secretary Leon Brittan described alcohol at the time as a "major contributory factor in violent and disorderly behaviour" in football grounds.
Following the PM’s proposal, Sheffield United’s Fan Advisory Board has asked supporters whether alcohol should be allowed in view of the pitch at Bramall Lane.
As of September 25, 251 people had voted in the FAB's poll. 53.4 per cent opted to keep the current arrangements, while 29.1 per cent backed allowing beer in the stands and 17.5 per cent favoured a dedicated beer-drinking section.
A spokesperson for the UK Football Policing Unit warned that changes to the law would pose "challenges" to policing and the "safety of staff and fans at football games", adding: "It would be irresponsible to fuel [violent and disorderly behaviour] by allowing greater alcohol consumption during games."
But Tom Greatrex, the chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association, said it was "unfair to criminalise football fans for having a pint while watching the match - especially since you can sit in the same seat drinking alcohol whilst watching an Oasis gig or rugby league".
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