Eleven arrested at Villa Park as police slam ‘significant hooliganism’ among Maccabi Tel Aviv fans

More than 700 police officers were on duty for the Europa League fixture after it was announced that fans of Israeli club Maccabi would be banned from the stadium.

West Midlands Police have so far arrested six people before the hosts' 2-0 win on the night.

It came after police have blamed 'significant hooliganism' within Maccabi's fan base as the reason for banning them.

A spokesperson for the force said six people were arrested including a 21-year-old man for failing to comply with an order to remove a face mask, while a 17-year-old boy was arrested for failing to comply with a dispersal order.

Three other people were arrested for racially aggravated public order offences and another person was arrested for breach of the peace.

Read more: Maccabi Tel Aviv will not sell tickets to Aston Villa match over safety fears for fans travelling to Birmingham

Read more: Tel Aviv derby scrapped amid fan violence days after Maccabi UK ban backlash

Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group announced last month that visiting fans will be barred from attending the match at Villa Park due to public safety concerns.

Maccabi later announced it would decline any away tickets for the clash after the Government said it was "working around the clock" to ensure fans from both sides could attend.

The decision was met with backlash including from Sir Keir Starmer who called it the "wrong decision."

West Midlands Police chief, Tom Joyce, defended the stance on Thursday ahead of the game.

He confirmed the reasoning was not triggered by potential threats to visiting Israelis, but rather levels of 'hoolaginism' in their own fanbase.

He told Sky News: "We are simply trying to make decisions based on community safety, driven by the intelligence that was available to us and our assessment of the risk that was coming from admitting travelling fans.

"I'm aware there’s a lot of commentary around the threat to the (Maccabi) fans being the reason for the decision.

"To be clear, that was not the primary driver. That was a consideration.

"We have intelligence and information that says that there is a section of Maccabi fans, not all Maccabi fans, but a section who engage in quite significant levels of hooliganism.

"What is probably quite unique in these circumstances is where as often hooligans will clash with other hooligans and it will be contained within the football fan base.

"We've had examples where a section of Maccabi fans were targeting people not involved in football matches, and certainly we had an incident in Amsterdam last year which has informed some of our decision-making.

“So it is exclusively a decision we made on the basis of the behaviour of a sub-section of Maccabi fans, but all the reaction that could occur obviously formed part of that as well."

Speaking outside of the ground, Aston Villa supporter Lord Austin Dudley told LBC the decision to ban the away fans shows the country has a "problem" with "extremism."

He said: "I think what sort of country are we when people are told they can't come to a football match because of their nationality or their ethnicity.

"I think it's a real shame that the match is being dragged into all of this."

He added: "What Villa fans and myself want tonight is an ordinary game, we want to watch the Villa. Hopefully we'll win but we want a proper game.

"We think everyone should be able to come just as normal.

"It's a real problem for Birmingham and I think it's a real problem for Britain when people are being told they can't come to a football game because of who they are and where they are from.

"I think it shows we've got problems in this country with extremism, racism.

"We've got politicians whipping things up, people who have never taken an interest in Villa or in football are getting involved in this for all the wrong reasons.

"It's unacceptable."

A member of Tommy Robinson's social media team also live-streamed the scenes outside the ground ahead of kick-off.

One Maccabi fan told the channel: "What I see today inside the UK is the same mentality that I resent and fight against.

"I can't even comprehend how (much) I am worried for the future of this great nation.

"I really hope in the very near future, things will be shifted because if not unfortunately- you know what they say about London Bridge is falling down - if the UK falls it's going to have a domino effect."