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After the recent incident in Paris involving a set of Chelsea fans guilty of racist behaviour when they pushed a black man off a Paris metro train, France's L'Equipe filed a Freedom of Information request to the British government to get the number of stadium bans handed out by each club in the Premier League. The numbers are for bans in the past ten years and they do not paint a pretty picture of the league.
The London club have handed out the most number of stadium bans to fans guilty of racist abuse in the Premier League - 19 in total. They are tied with another London club - West Ham - who have also handed out 19 bans.
A third London club, Tottenham Hotspur, is third with 17 stadium bans while Aston Villa and Sunderland complete the top five with 13 and 12 respectively. Other top clubs in the list include Arsenal (10), Manchester United (7), Liverpool (6) and Manchester City (2). Other clubs high up in the list but who no longer play in the EPL are Wigan (9) and Blackburn (8).
Chelsea had released a statement condemning the behaviour of the fans and promised to support any action that would be taken against the quilty parties.
The club said in a statement: "We will support any criminal action against those involved, and should evidence point to involvement of Chelsea season-ticket holders or members the club will take the strongest possible action against them, including banning orders."
| RANK | CLUB | BANS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Ham | 19 |
| Chelsea | 19 | |
| 3 | Tottenham | 17 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 13 |
| 5 | Sunderland | 12 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 10 |
| 7 | Wigan | 9 |
| 8 | Blackburn | 8 |
| 9 | Bolton | 7 |
| Manchester United | 7 | |
| Newcastle | 7 | |
| Stoke City | 7 | |
| 13 | Liverpool | 6 |
| 14 | West Brom | 5 |
| 15 | Birminghamtable table-bordered table-striped | 4 |
| Norwich | 4 | |
| 17 | Charlton | 3 |
| Middlesbrough | 3 | |
| Swansea | 3 | |
| 20 | Everton | 2 |
| Hull City | 2 | |
| Manchester City | 2 | |
| Southampton | 2 | |
| 24 | Blackpool | 1 |
| Burnley | 1 | |
| Portsmouth | 1 | |
| Sheffield | 1 | |
| Wolves | 1 | |
| 29 | Cardiff | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 0 | |
| Derby | 0 | |
| Fulham | 0 | |
| QPR | 0 | |
| Reading | 0 | |
| Watford | 0 |
