Brentford announce fan behaviour sanctions for first half of 2024/25 season | OneFootball

Brentford remains committed to updating fans on behaviour incidents and today provides a mid-season summary of reported cases and sanctions.

Up to and including the Arsenal game on 1 January, the club issued 168 individuals with sanctions due to various incidents concerning fan behaviour.

Of this number:

In addition to this, four people were given a football banning order or received a fine through the courts.

Many of the cases involved away fans, meaning match bans or other sanctions were not always applicable.

In comparison, at the mid-season point last year, 131 individuals were sanctioned. The increase reflects both an uptick in reported incidents and the club’s stronger enforcement measures. With more comprehensive searches and monitoring, more offences are being identified and addressed.

Altogether, the 172 sanctioned offences above are broken down as follows:

Last season, a new drug search policy for away supporters at the Gtech was introduced with the stricter drug searches identifying more offenders than last season. We are focusing on eradicating drugs from the stadium to ensure Brentford's home is a welcoming place for everyone.

At the mid-season point, 20 incidents involving 43 people were still being investigated, and 30 incidents involving 32 people were under police investigation.

Tackling ticket touting and away fans in home areas

The club remains committed to enforcing strict action against ticket offences. Those involved risk losing their membership or season ticket.

Up to the Arsenal game, 440 memberships had been revoked for ticket touting and related breaches - up significantly from 116 at the same stage last year.

This increase reflects the club’s enhanced efforts to tackle touting, prevent away fans from accessing home areas, and identify those reselling tickets on third-party platforms.

So far, in the second half of the season, including the Liverpool match, we have blocked more than 100 tickets, cancelled more than 70 additional memberships and issued a number of bans.

In May 2024, we informed fans of how we’re dealing with the ongoing problem of ticket touting in the Premier League.

Our measures have included monitoring unauthorised reseller websites, policing any suspicious booking or sales behaviour, and working with fans who have been victims of ticket touts.

These steps have been put in place to take a proactive stance against unfair ticket distribution.

At the start of last season, we also amended our ticketing process to enable the club to increase the ticket access points (TAPs) threshold to 100+ TAPs for games with an exceptional demand or to increase security for our fans.

Continued focus on ticketing offences

Jon Varney, chief executive, said: “We’re proud of our fans who come to the Gtech on a matchday. They are a welcoming community and play a big part in building a really positive matchday experience.

“Whilst serious fan behaviour issues at the stadium remain low, we are disappointed to see a higher number of fan behaviour incidents at the midway point of the season in comparison to last season, albeit many of these are from away fans.

“In response to fan feedback, we’re continuing to work hard to tackle ticketing offences and ensure that home areas are for Brentford fans. The figures show that our measures are having an impact, but we will continue to focus on this important issue.”

Brentford fans play a key role in ensuring a positive matchday experience. If you witness unacceptable behaviour, please report it immediately via a steward, QR code (displayed in toilets and seat backs), or by texting BFC + message to 62277.

We remind fans not to purchase tickets via unauthorised ticketing platforms, including unofficial Brentford Facebook pages, and not to get involved in disputes with away supporters in home areas.