Football supporters hit the spotlight over the weekend when individuals rushed onto the field of play at Birmingham and Arsenal and struck opponent players.
The fan who rushed out during the Second City Derby at St Andrew’s has since been jailed for 14 weeks for his attack on Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish, while the man at the Emirates has been charged with common assault for his shove on Manchester United’s Chris Smalling.
We are no stranger to supporters running onto the field during a game, ourselves, as members of the London Stadium faithful broke out of the grandstands during our defeat to Burnley last season and then our Carabao Cup exit to Tottenham this term.
The pitch invastions against Burnley a year ago actually set West Ham aside from the rest of the Premier League clubs between 2013/14 and 2017/18, as well.
Between the two campaigns, our supporters entered the field of play a staggering 26 times, which eclipsed Sunderland by one and Chelsea by six.
As Birmingham have not competed in the top-tier during that period, they are not included on the list, but Arsenal have and came in with ten.
When Hammers fan account Hammers Chat shared a graphic highlighting West Ham’s table-topping position for pitch invasions, our supporters on Twitter had this to say…
We are only top due to our world class performance at the Burnley game last season.
— Roy Clark (@royboy1001) March 12, 2019
Do we get extra points as one of ours kindly put the flag in the centre circle ⚒️
— Warren (@WarrengFossett) March 12, 2019
Andy Carroll would surely double this stat
— Darren Butler (@boogiebutler7) March 12, 2019
And Gokhan Tore, don’t forget his hugely impressive appearances in a West Ham shirt.
— Steve (@HammerForLife) March 12, 2019
Does this count towards Europe next season like the fair play league
— 父Connor父 (@BFF_____) March 12, 2019
Proper naughty
— Miks⚒ (@HadiMikdashi) March 12, 2019
At least Grealish is safe with us.
— Steve Bennett (@NotSteveBennett) March 12, 2019
????????????????????????
— Avit (@avithammer) March 12, 2019