On One Pack Week 2023, Wolves have taken the unprecedented step of publishing a summary of action taken against individuals who have breached ground regulations or committed football-related offences, this season so far.
This information is accurate up until 1st April 2023 and has been published following a commitment made in the club’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy ‘Mission One Pack’ to improve transparency and reporting in line with the club’s aim to achieve advance level of the Premier League’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion advanced standard by 2026.
This season to date, 57 sanctions have been issued, ranging from 29 written warnings regarding future behaviour, to three indefinite stadium bans. Seven of these are pending further police investigation.
Of the 57 incidents, 44 of them happened at Molineux, while 13 of them happened at away matches. At the start of the season, the football authorities introduced new measures and stronger sanctions across the game to tackle anti-social and criminal behaviours. Included in the Love Football. Protect The Game campaign is an initiative of away stewards’ attendance at all Premier League fixtures. This has improved representation and extended channels of communication between clubs.
As outlined in the club’s Acceptable Behaviour Policy, that can be viewed by clicking here, offences range from Level 1, which includes smoking, persistent standing or drinking alcohol in view of the pitch, to Level 5, which includes throwing a missile onto the pitch or physical assault.
Wolves are dedicated to the Premier League commitment regarding discriminatory and abusive conduct published in 2021, having aligned the club’s Acceptable Behaviour Policy to the commitment. All incidents are investigated with positive collaboration between the club and West Midlands Police Football Unit.
Under Wolves’ sanctions process, individuals against whom serious complaints have been alleged are provided with a summary of the evidence against them and invited to respond.
The club then decide whether the individual has breached the Premier League policies and protocols and/or the club’s Acceptable Behaviour Policy. If a sanction is imposed, it is confirmed in writing and the individual being sanctioned has the right to appeal. So far this two bans have been overturned on appeal.
Nine supporters who have served their sanctions have now signed Acceptable Behaviour Agreements which effectively commit them to improving their behaviour at Wolves matches in the future.
In addition, 93 memberships have also been revoked this season for ticket touting, with a number of further members currently under investigation.
A full breakdown of the 2022/23 sanction data, including categorisation of incidents leading to investigation and/or sanction, can be found below.
Gurpri Bains, EDI manager at Wolves, said: “It is important for our fans to know how seriously we take acts of anti-social, hateful and discriminatory behaviour, which is why we have taken the unprecedented step of publishing this season’s figures.
“As part of our Not In Our Pack campaign, we are committed to making Molineux a home which our fans love, where they feel welcome and where we can be One Pack, and with that comes a responsibility to take action on the small minority who don’t share these values.
“It is important that we put these numbers into context – they represent less than 0.01 per cent of our registered supporters and the vast majority of supporters share and practice the standards of behaviour that we expect at Molineux and when we travel away from home.
“We ask all supporters to continue to be considerate of others, as even outside of these reported numbers there may be other unreported issues that can directly or indirectly impact on the enjoyment of the game for others, this can lead to some supporters feeling threatened or unsafe.
“We commit to continue being transparent in this area and reporting these numbers on an annual basis moving forwards, and over time we hope that we can see a steady decline in fan sanctions needing to be issued, we encourage all supporters home and away to tell us immediately when something doesn’t feel right.”
Fans are encouraged, if they see or hear racist, sexist, homophobic, or other discriminatory or anti-social behaviour on matchday to report what they see or experience to a matchday steward, or text the Not In Our Pack text line on 07723 479887 and start the message with WOLVES.
2022/23 | Home and away Wolves fan sanction data
Sanction Type
Banned or awaiting Police Investigation: 14
Broken down by ban type
- Three-year football banning order and/or three-year club ban: 4
- Indefinite ban: 3
- Indefinite until Police Investigation concluded: 7
- Spent ban (varying from 1-12 months): 14
- Warning regarding future behaviour: 29
Total number of sanctions issued: 57
Categorisation of incidents, leading to investigation and/or sanction:
- Aggressive behaviour and ejection: 1
- Aggressive behaviour and language: 1
- An act of physical violence: 4
- Assault of a steward: 1
- Disability hate crime/discrimination: 1
- Discharge of a pyrotechnic: 1
- Drinking in view of the pitch: 3
- Exposure: 1
- Facilitating away supporters in home areas: 4
- Foul and abusive language: 3
- Homophobic hate crime/discrimination: 6
- Inappropriate language and drinking in stands: 1
- Intoxication and refused entry: 2
- Intoxication in the stadium, non-compliant, argumentative: 1
- Missile throwing: 1
- Multiple seat occupation: 2
- Obscene language: 2
- Pitch Incursion: 2
- Possession of an illegal substance and refused entry: 3
- Racial hate crime/discrimination: 3
- Smoking or vaping: 7
- Ticket misuse and breach of ABA (Acceptable behaviour agreement): 1
- Ticket sharing and misuse: 4
- Vaping, aggressive behaviour & ejection: 1
- Vaping and multiple seat occupation: 1
Total incidents: 57
Further information
- Acceptable Behaviour Agreements signed (post-sanction served): 9
- Bans overturned on appeals: 2
- Memberships revoked for ticket touting: 93
