Club working with young fans after match trouble

Carlisle United has been working with young fans who misbehave

Carlisle United are using a form of restorative justice to help young fans who misbehave at matches.

It sees the club work with the fans and their parents to help them understand the impact of their actions.

The club’s chief executive, Nigel Clibbens, said the vast majority of fans were "really well behaved" and educating them "worked".

It follows a series of incidents at Brunton Park, including pitch invasions, objects thrown onto the playing surface and a visiting goalkeeper being verbally abused.

Mr Clibbens said educating fans "worked"

The fans that participate in the scheme are identified by other supporters or by stewards.

Carlisle United said it had worked with "approximately 15 young people" in the past couple of years, with none of the participants "ever reoffending".

The club works alongside Cumbria Police and charity Remedi UK, who provide a Youth Restorative Justice Service, to educate young people on the consequences of their actions.

'Genuinely sorry'

Mr Clibbens said: "We get the fans in, we bring their parents in when they’re young, and we go through and explain to them.

“In every case we’ve had, the fans are genuinely sorry. They go away and I’m confident they’re not going to do that again.

“That’s got to be a better plan than just throwing out bans everywhere. Yes, there has to be some kind of punishment, but it has to be proportionate.

“We have to try to educate fans, and it works.”

'Problems'

Home Office figures show that football related arrests in England and Wales in the 2022-23 season were at a nine-year high.

Carlisle were fined £5,000 after supporters invaded the pitch in a play-off semi-final match with Bradford at Brunton Park, and a fan was arrested after hurling homophobic abuse at a player from Stockport County.

Mr Clibbens added: "All it takes is one or two people [to misbehave] out of a crowd of 10,000 and that makes the headlines.

“It causes problems for the club, it brings its reputation into disrepute and people ask themselves if they want to go to Carlisle United games.”

Mr Clarkson said it was important the club made fan fell confident to report incidents

The club’s supporter liaison officer, Simon Clarkson, said all efforts were being targeted at making the match day experience safe and inclusive.

He said: “It’s really important we empower fans and make them feel confident they can report incidents to a steward and we can take immediate action.”

Carlisle United run a hotline on game days for incidents to be reported.