More than 100 hate offences in London football stadiums

Hate has reared its head in the beautiful game more than 100 times in the past year, new figures for the capital show.

The hate crime offences were recorded in London stadiums between 1 June 2021 and 31 May this year.

The Met dealt with 83 public order offences, including 60 that were racially or religiously motivated.

Police also handled 18 violent hate crimes, including one where the victim was injured, in that period.

The 101 hate crimes last year is approaching the level of reports for the three-year period between January 2015 and January 2018, when there were 116 in total.

Minorities make up 13.4% of the Met's police officers

Labour's London Assembly spokesperson for policing and crime, Unmesh Desai, obtained the figures from mayor Sadiq Khan.

"We cannot let hate turn the beautiful game ugly," he said. "Football should be enjoyed by all, regardless of race, religion or sexuality.

"It has a significant cultural influence on wider society, especially with younger people.

"All Londoners must feel safe when supporting their team, without fear of intimidation or violence and without being subjected to vile language or disgusting behaviour, as should stewards, club staff and the players themselves."

Mr Desai added that he would urge all fans to "call out hate wherever they come across it", but that authorities "must step in and make sure those responsible are held accountable".

An estimated 150,000 football fans attend games across London every week during the regular football season, and a report from anti-racism campaign Kick it Out found half of all fans surveyed in 2018 had witnessed racist abuse at a football game.

There was an outpouring of support for Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they received racist abuse online following the Euro 2020 final

While there has been an increase in the number of racism arrests made at football grounds over the past six seasons, campaigners have called for more to be done to tackle online racism directed at footballers on social media.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced football banning orders would be extended to cover online hate offences, meaning online trolls could be banned from attending games for up to 10 years in England and Wales.

A total of 11 people were arrested last summer for racially abusing England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following England's defeat to Italy in the European Championship final.

But more than 600 social media posts were reported to police for racist and offensive content following the game, with 207 of them deemed to be criminal.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]