Premier League, FA and PGMOL released joint statement condemning 'violence' at football stadiums following grizzly West Brom-Wolves scenes in FA Cup

The governing bodies have condemned "unacceptable events" in stadiums and warned fans they could face criminal convictions following West Brom's FA Cup tie to rivals Wolves being suspended for 38 minutes because of crowd trouble at The Hawthorns on Sunday. The English Football League, National League System, League Managers Association, Football Supporters' Association, and the UK Football Policing Unit also backed the joint statement.

"We are very concerned about the unacceptable events that have taken place in some of our stadiums recently. Acts of discrimination, violence and entering the field of play are all criminal offences – which can result in individuals receiving criminal convictions, football banning orders and life-time stadium bans.

"While we understand that this behaviour is carried out by a small minority, we wish to remind everyone that these actions will not be tolerated and we will collectively work together, alongside the police, to bring offenders to justice and stamp this out of our game. Love Football. Protect the Game."

The shocking events on Sunday, which included missiles being thrown, fights breaking out, fans spilling onto the pitch and police arresting six people in connection with the game, is not what anyone connected to football wants to see at matches and if it can be stamped out the better the sport will be.

Over the past weekend, a referee was chased off the pitch at Port Vale's League One clash with Portsmouth and Coventry City's Kasey Palmer was booed by a section of Sheffield Wednesday fans at Hillsborough in the FA Cup - a week on from him allegedly being subjected to racist abuse from some of the Owls' supporters.

Club officials and police are likely to be extra vigilant at upcoming games across English football in light of what has happened over the past few days. However, Home Office data from 2023 states football-related arrests had risen 60% compared to the last season compared to the last full season (2018/19) before the Covid pandemic - so there is lots of work to be done to combat this.