The Football Licensing Authority

Injury Statistics
Last Updated: 02-Dec-2008 0:34 AM

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FOOTBALL LICENSING AUTHORITY

ANALYSIS OF INJURIES TREATED DURING THE 2007/08 FOOTBALL SEASON

1. At the end of each season, we ask all the Premier and Football League clubs and international grounds to provide details of the number of spectators treated for injuries at football matches at their grounds. We depend upon the clubs to provide us with accurate returns. For reasons of patient confidentiality, we do not collect information on individual cases.

2. Due to the fact that the football season does not coincide with our financial year, it was not possible to analyse the statistics for the 2007/08 season in time for inclusion in our Annual Report. We are therefore producing this analysis as a separate document and will refer back to it in next year’s Annual Report.

3. The statistics relate to football matches at the total of 92 grounds in the Premier and Football Leagues plus the international grounds in Wembley and Cardiff.

Summary

4. For the first time since the 2001/2002 season the number of spectators reported as having been treated for injuries incurred at the ground and the number taken to hospital both rose significantly. This reversed the steady decline in reported injuries over the previous years. However, for reasons given below, we believe that the size of the increase has been overstated.

5. The headline figures are as follows.

* The number of spectators reported as having been treated for injuries sustained at the ground rose from 964 to 1559, an increase of 61%. However, we believe that about 100 of the “injuries” may be accounted for by the inclusion of illnesses and pre-existing injuries in the returns from two Premier League clubs. If so, this would produce an increase of just over 50%. We have made several attempts to obtain more accurate figures but the clubs concerned had not recorded the information in an accessible form.

* The number of spectators reported as having been taken to hospital other than for illnesses and pre-existing injuries rose from 42 to 145. Again, however, we believe that this figure is inflated by perhaps 10 – 15 as a result of the returns from the two grounds mentioned above.

* Recorded attendances at matches fell by 1% from 37,169,813 to 36,640,186. However, this decline was mostly in the Championship (just over 11%). Attendances rose in the Premier League and (marginally) in League 1.

* The aggregate injury rate deteriorated across all divisions. The greatest change was in the Championship where the reported injury rate more than doubled. This apart, there were no obvious differences between the increases at particular clubs. The Premier League retained the lowest injury rate, once the returns from the two grounds mentioned above had been taken into account.

Detailed analysis

6. The following table shows the number of spectators reported as having been treated for injuries sustained at football matches at the ground during the 2007/08 season, in total and broken down by division.

	Premier	Championship	League 1	League 2	Total
Spectators treated for injuries of which	789	426	213	131	1559
Taken to hospital	72	44	19	10	145
Attendance	18,740,056	10,22,025	4,960,391	2,71,714	36,640,186
1 injury per	23,752	23,99	23,228	20,761	23,502

We believe that the injury figures for the Premier League (and hence for the total) are inflated by about 100. This would give a ratio for the former of one injury for approximately every 27,200 spectators and, for the total, a ratio one injury for approximately every 25,100 spectators.

7. The equivalent figures for 2006/7 season were as follows

	Premier	Championship	League 1	League 2	Total
Spectators treated for injuries of which	474	210	158	122	964
Taken to hospital	18	9	10	5	42
Attendance	18,019,826	11,423,444	4,945,983	2,780,560	37,169,813
1 injury per	38,017	54,397	31,304	22,791	38,558

In both these tables, the figures for Wembley Stadium and the Millennium Stadium are included with those for the Premier League. The attendance figures are those reported by the home club in the national press.

8. The following table breaks down the injuries by category as described in the returns which we received for 2007/08.

Total	1559	% of Total

Trips	305	19%
Limbs	218	14%
Cuts	198	13%
Scalds	147	9%
Hit By Ball	107	7%
Seat and Turnstile	87	5%
Head	74	5%
Public Order	55	4%
Eye	40	2%
Wasp Stings	28	2%
Other	30	2%
Celebration	20	1%
Barriers	12	1%
Missile	12	1%
Crushing	5	1%

Not Recorded	221	14%

9. The main increases, as compared with 2006/07 are accounted for by limb injuries, injuries from seats / turnstiles, public order and being hit by the ball. While the number of recorded limb injuries rose fourfold from 53 to 218 much of this appears to have been due to a change of recording practice at one ground.

10. This reflects the inconsistencies in terminology used by the reporting staff at different grounds that we have been unable to overcome. This makes it difficult to allocate injuries precisely to different categories. Moreover, it is often difficult to identify the circumstances in which spectatcurred and a spectator may choose not to disclose this or the cause when receiving treatment.

11. Nevertheless, in a few instances, it is clear from the information provided that the spectator was standing between or even on the seats. Informal contact with the clubs suggests that this number could be even higher but the detail in the returns is not sufficient to draw further firm conclusions. There is also evidence of some spectators not seeking treatment for such injuries.

12. One reason for the increase in the number of spectators being hit by the ball may be their failure to keep an eye on the pitch during the warm up. Another factor could be the lightness of the modern football which allows it to be kicked with greater acceleration higher and further. A number of clubs are undertaking risk assessments and implementing additional control measures to reduce this risk.

13. The cause is not recorded for about one seventh of the reported injuries. Almost two thirds of these are attributable to the two grounds which did not distinguish between illnesses and injuries. We have already taken action to prevent any repetition of this for the 2008/2009 season.

14. The most serious single incident in 2007/2208 occurred at a League 1 match when seven home supporters were treated for the effects of pepper spray used to control crowd trouble.

15. We are aware that the figures can vary up or down between different seasons. We have therefore found it more useful to maintain rolling averages for all 94 grounds and for each division. This reduces the impact of individual large clubs being promoted or relegated and of any anomalies or single incidents, thereby enabling us to focus on the underlying trends. The following table shows the three-year rolling averages for the past five years.

All Divisions	2001/2002 -2003/2004	2002/2003 -2004/2005	2003/2004 -2005/2006	2004/2005 -2006/2007	2005/2006 -2007/2008
Spectators treated for injuries of which	1604	1505	1325	1177	1238
Taken to hospital	185	144	97	69	84

Attendance	36,089,790	37,782,618	38,076,715	38,651,111	36,845,760
1 injury per	22,450	25,104	28,737	31,989	31,376

Premier	2001/2002 -2003/2004	2002/2003 -2004/2005	2003/2004 -2005/2006	2004/2005 -2006/2007	2005/2006 -2007/2008
Spectators treated for injuries of which	822	761	658	590	631
Taken to hospital	83	71	50	35	41

Attendance	17,896,055	18,321,346	18,145,708	18,013,863	18,118,801
1 injury per	21,771	24,075	27,577	30,532	28,714

CCC	2001/2002 -2003/2004	2002/2003 -2004/2005	2003/2004 -2005/2006	2004/2005 -2006/2007	2005/2006 -2007/2008
Spectators treated for injuries of which	326	316	275	246	228
Taken to hospital	45	33	20	13	22

Attendance	10,034,247	10,826,918	11,175,455	11,352,294	10,898,208
1 injury per	30,780	34,262	40,638	46,148	47,799

CCL1	2001/2002 -2003/2004	2002/2003 -2004/2005	2003/2004 -2005/2006	2004/2005 -2006/2007	2005/2006 -2007/2008
Spectators treated for injuries of which	274	242	219	194	187
Taken to hospital	36	25	19	15	15

Attendance	4,865,019	5,201,110	5,318,751	5,187,022	4,993,921
1 injury per	17,756	21,492	24,267	26,737	26,705

CCL2	2001/2002 -2003/2004	2002/2003 -2004/2005	2003/2004 -2005/2006	2004/2005 -2006/2007	2005/2006 -2007/2008
Spectators treated for injuries of which	182	185	173	147	132
Taken to hospital	21	16	9	6	7

Attendance	3,294,468	3,433,244	3,435,641	3,097,902	2,834,799
1 injury per	18,101	18,558	19,859	21,074	21,476

Conclusions

16. The substantial increase in the number of spectators reported as having sought treatment in the 2007/08 season is disappointing. It is too soon to say whether this is a correction to the existing trend, a one-off deviation, or whether it represents the start of a new trend.

17. A number of factors have been suggested as possibly contributing to the rise but we do not have enough firm evidence to be confident about their individual or collective impact:

* better recording at the majority of clubs, offset by the two which failed to distinguish between illnesses and injuries incurred at the ground;

* a deterioration in behaviour, evidenced by an increase in arrests; and / or

* an increase in persistent standing at particular grounds;

18. We shall continue to press the local authorities to monitor the situation and to consider the injury statistics and records of any incidents at their Safety Advisory Group meetings. We shall also focus on obtaining more detailed and more reliable returns.

Football Licensing Authority

Secretariat

November 2008

ors sustained these injuries. First aid personnel are not required to record the circumstances in which the injury oc

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