Watching football is not a crime! is part of the FSF’s ongoing drive to monitor the police in their dealings with football supporters and work with them to ensure that all fans are treated fairly, within the law and in exactly the same way as other social groups.

Watching football is not a crime! has been launched as a direct reaction to recent instances of police officers using Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 as a way of stopping football supporters, usually in pubs, from attending matches.

We have teamed up with the civil rights organisation Liberty and are fully committed to taking this issue to court in order to prevent police using Section 27 on innocent football supporters.

Campaign aims:

• To stop the use of Section 27 legislation as a strategy for policing football supporters.
• To inform supporters that this is happening with previous examples and steps to take if you are a victim of Section 27 legislation.
• Prosecution/compensation – to establish whether or not use of Section 27 legislation by police on football supporters in this way is lawful, and if not, to take appropriate legal action to compensate as many of the victims of this tactic as possible. Specifically, we will strive to achieve the following compensation for innocent fans: refunds on travel expenses and match tickets, deletion of any records of incidents held on file, and a written apology.

To do this we need your support, legal proceedings can be very expensive. We cannot know in advance how this case will develop, how long it will take or the total possible costs at the end of it. You can do this securely online or send a cheque payable to the Football Supporters’ Federation, Fans' Stadium, Kingsmeadow, Jack Goodchild Way, 422A Kingston Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 3PB.

The suggested donation is £2.70, the approximate price of a pint, although we obviously welcome larger donations. We’ve set it up in multiples of £5 and £10 on the site, or you can purchase a membership-donation combo for £20. This means you get a year’s individual membership (including six copies per annum of our magazine - The Football Supporter) and feel extra good knowing you’ve contributed a fiver to Watching football is not a crime!

We also ask that everyone who reads this sends the link on to five people. The more people who hear about this, the more evidence we build up of Section 27’s unfair use. All money raised in this campaign will be spent solely on the campaign while it runs. If we are successful in overturning the use of Section 27, any surplus will be used for future legal challenges on behalf of football fans.

FAQs on Section 27:

So what is Section 27?

How can I help challenge Section 27?

What can I do if Section 27 is served on me?

Section 27 has been served on me!