Over the last seven years, despite being regarded as some of the safest sports venues in the world, the number of injuries to spectators in England and Wales have seen a substantial rise.
From slips, trips and falls, assault or a spillage of hot liquid, the recent spike in incidents at matches is clear to see at face value when looking at the data available to the public.
But as one looks closer into the numbers and finds out what is actually being reported, what is the reason for the increase in the injuries? And are the numbers actually telling the full story? Are there more incidents that are just not reported on?
The basic numbers
During every footballing season, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) annually collates and publishes a summary of reported injuries to spectators at football matches in England and Wales.
Data is requested from all 92 of the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two clubs, from their competitive league and cup games that season. Data is also collected from the England and Wales international stadiums; Wembley Stadium and the Principality Stadium, which are included in the Premier League data.
Source: https://sgsa.org.uk/spectator-injuries-at-sports-grounds-data/
(all illustrations used are from this source)
As seen in the graph above, the data shows a sharp increase in the number of people treated for injuries, with the 2021/22 season recording 1,841 spectators injured. While it is a slight decrease from previous seasons, the figures have more than, or nearly doubled over the last five years. The SGSA have not released any reports or data from the following two seasons (2022/23 and 2023/24).
It is important to note that the 2020/21 season was excluded from the data as no reports were made. This was due to the fact that all matches were played without fans in the stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, statistics for the 2019/20 season are only taken from August 2019 to January 2020, as the season was postponed in March and resumed in June and July, again with no fans in stadiums.
There is a significant dip in the 2019/20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the figures over the last six years have more than tripled.
Comparing the 2019/20 season to other previous and subsequent years should therefore be treated with caution, but if we were to do so: the six month period the report covered (August to January) there were a reported 1,215 injuries, which makes an average of 202.5 injuries every month. If this was to continue for the remaining four months of the season (February-May) the season would finish with an estimated 2,025 spectator injuries, which would display another rise in the amount of injuries at matches.
At first glance, the numbers do highlight a staggering increase in the number of reported incidents over recent years. But why the sudden increase?
The quality of reporting
According to SGSA spokesperson Caroline Hale, the reason for the sharp increase in injuries is down to the organisation working more closely with football clubs and have improved their reporting and collating of incidents, thus creating the rising figures.
She said: “Grounds were reminded of their responsibility to report all injuries. As a result of more detailed reporting, the figures show an increase.
“We believe this is down to more accurate reporting rather than any actual increase in the number of injuries occurring. Sports grounds in the UK are some of the safest in the world and reported injuries are relatively low.”
Looking at the numbers, it is plausible that the sharp increase in injuries can indicate a better standard of reporting from football clubs and how they have taken steps in the last five years to note these incidents, when they had previously been either mistakenly left out, or simply ignored.
Injuries at Wembley and Principality Stadium are included in the Premier League data
Furthermore, when one takes into account the sheer amount of people that attend football matches every year, as Hale alludes to, the percentage of people that suffer injuries and are treated for them, is actually quite low.
While in 2021/22, the Premier League and the two international stadiums recorded the most amount the injuries in a season to date, the amount of reported incidents compared to the number of spectators at matches seemingly paint a less concerning picture.
For example, in 2021/22, the total attendance at football games in England and Wales was 34,317,374, and with 1,841 injuries reported, this means that only 0.005% of people were injured at football matches that season, equating to only 1 injury per 18,641 spectators.
However, despite the number of spectators suffering injury being a significantly small amount, incidents are still increasing and as one looks further, the data collected in these reports can be misleading, as not every injury is actually noted in the final numbers.
‘Ineligible’ injuries
In 2019, Imperial College conducted a project evaluating the spectator injury data, looking at the true cause of the injuries at football matches.
Slips, trips and falls were the cause of 30% of the incidents, while 30% were unknown.
The project concluded with Imperial College calling for medical incidents to be reported as well as injuries. While they are collected, they are listed as ‘ineligible’ and are not officially counted in the final figure of injuries to spectators.
Any pre-existing injury or illness is also excluded from the numbers of ‘injuries’ and are listed as ‘ineligible’, so if you were to include all of these statistics and circumstances into account, as seen in the graph below, it makes the true total even more intense.
The data for ‘ineligible’ injuries is only available as far back as the 2018/19 season
In the years following the season impacted by the Covid pandemic, medical emergencies in crowds have unfortunately become a common occurrence, with several games stopped and even postponed and replayed a later date as a result of the incidents, which in some cases have tragically led to fans losing their lives.
While the quality of reporting has seemed to have improved, as evidenced by the fact that ‘ineligible’ injuries have been recorded since 2018, which could be a factor in the figures rising substantially, the numbers are not truly an actual representation of the number of injuries that occur.
The limitation in the data is down to pre-existing illnesses or injuries and medical emergencies being excluded from the final numbers and instead focus on incidents that, according to the SGSA, happened in the stadiums.
The reality is, the ‘ineligible’ injuries did also occur at football grounds and thus these reports do not paint the full picture about the safety of these venues, what is causing these incidents and the standard of reporting by the organisation and the 92 football clubs of the Premier League and the EFL.