BIGGER football clubs should pay more towards policing their matches, according to South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
Figures from the 2017\/18 football season show that having officers at matches in the region cost the force \u00a31.35m, with clubs only picking up a fraction of the bill.<\/p>\n
The cash could pay for 27 more police officers.<\/p>\n
Sheffield MP Gill Furniss has called for a 1% levy on the eye-watering sums clubs get from television rights to be redirected to police forces to help pay for the cost.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said: \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why football clubs shouldn\u2019t share their burden of the cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn South Yorkshire, the amount of police officers who are on duty, for example, at the Sheffield Wednesday vs Sheffield United derby match is just utterly staggering.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve literally got hundreds of cops on duty and costing the tax player and the force a lot of money. Certainly, the bigger clubs should pay more contribution \u2013 Premier League and Championship clubs have got a lot of money so that should be filtered back into providing some cost towards policing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resources and the money spent on policing football grounds on match days could be diverted back into the communities that need policing support, Steve said.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cI can\u2019t see clubs paying nearly all the costs, but more of a contribution towards it would be proportionate and fair because at the minute it just seems that we\u2019re footing the costs and it\u2019s not fair to the members of the public in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that resource is going on to football and leaving the streets and neighbourhoods understaffed because we just don\u2019t have the resources to them back in there, because we don\u2019t have the money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of money involved \u2013 it\u2019s only right that a little bit of that should be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n