SWINDON Town officials have echoed objections by the Football League to a call from a top police officer for clubs to foot the bill for wider policing on match days.

The Association of Chief Police Officers’ lead on football policing, Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt, has called for clubs to pay the full cost of policing games, after a recent report showed crime and disorder went up in the surrounding areas on those days.

At the moment, clubs are charged for policing within a designated area, called a footprint, around the ground but not for any response needed further away.

It comes after a season which saw an eruption of violence between Town and Oxford United fans when the bitter rivals clashed both home and away.

When the Us visited the County Ground in August, police arrested 12 people after they rampaged through the town centre, while three Town fans were held in the reverse fixture last month.

Town operations manager Mark Isaacs questioned whether the club could be culpable for incidents that took place away from the ground.

He said: “There are a lot of processes each club has to go through in terms of agreeing footprints around the stadium and looking at fixtures at the start of every season.

“The Oxford games are category C for example and cost us around £11,000 in terms of policing, but then there are games that don’t need any. I believe they recover their costs.

“In terms of our budget, policing is probably a few per cent and we are in the enviable position of having a good relationship with the police – some clubs don’t. We obviously have a duty to our community and that is something we take seriously.

“The argument clubs are using is why pay for staff who are not even going to the ground and how, once the fans are off the footprint, can the club be responsible?”

Earlier, ACC Holt said: “Our experience in policing shows that football matches tend to lead to an increase in crime and disorder in the areas surrounding football grounds.

“This research supports this view and suggests that the area affected by increased criminality extends further than the area in which clubs contribute to the costs of policing.

“There are no plans to change the guidance which covers how police forces recover the costs associated with football policing from clubs.

“However, this study provides a further understanding of the affect that football matches can have on crime within our communities and will help inform the service should any future discussions take place on recovering costs associated with policing football.”