Report finds ‘collective failure’ after England Euros final disorder
The report by Baroness Louise Casey concluded about 2,000 people got into the England v Italy game illegally for the match on 11 July this year.
“Ticketless, drunken and drugged-up thugs” could have caused death as they stormed Wembley before the Euro 2020 final, said a review into the disorder.
Casey described “an appalling scene of disorder” that turned the final into a “day of national shame”.
Her report said there was a “collective failure” in planning, and where the knowledge that over 25,000 seats of Wembley’s 90,000 seats were empty created a “perfect storm” for potential invaders.
“Our team of role models were in our first major final for 55 years. However they were let down by a horde of ticketless, drunken and drugged up thugs who chose to abuse innocent, vulnerable and disabled people, as well as police officers, volunteers and Wembley staff,” said Lady Casey.
“I am clear that the primary responsibility for what went wrong at Wembley that day lies with those who lost control of their own behaviour.”
Home Office figures released in October showed that there were 39 football-related arrests at the match.
Lady Casey stated that the events of the England final “can’t be allowed to happen again”.
She recommended that there should be a Football Association campaign to force “a sea-change in attitudes towards supporter behaviours”, as well as a new category made for football matches “of national significance”. This would make organisers aware of the unique challenges of such major events, and encourage better communication with agencies overseeing the flow of fans.
The Met said that 51 arrests were made connected to the final, with 26 of those made at Wembley. In all, there were 90 football-related arrests of England fans at Euro 2020.
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said that “no event is set up to deal with such disgraceful behaviour from thousands of ticketless fans”, but apologised “for the terrible experience that many suffered within Wembley on what should have been a historic night”.
England have been ordered to play one match behind closed doors and the FA fined €100,000 (£84,560) by European football governing body Uefa as punishment for the unrest.