page_title: London Stadium
section_title: Crowd control
hierarchical_section_title: London Stadium / Sports / Football / Crowd control
caption_attribution_description: English: Stewards attempt to control fans during a West Ham United game at the London Stadium.
context_page_description: London Stadium is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford district of London. It was constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics—serving as the track and field venue, and as the site of their opening and closing ceremonies. Following the Games, the stadium was subsequently renovated as a multi-purpose stadium and now serves primarily as the home of West Ham United of the Premier League.
  Land preparation for the stadium began in mid-2007, with the official construction start date on 22 May 2008. The stadium held its first public event in March 2012, serving as the finish line for a celebrity run organised by the National Lottery. Holding 80,000 for the Olympics and the Paralympics, the stadium re-opened in July 2016 with 66,000 seats, but with capacity for football limited to 60,000 under the terms of the lease. The decision to make West Ham United the main tenants was controversial, with the initial tenancy process having to be rerun.
  The stadium hosted the 2017 IAAF World Championships and 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
context_section_description: At the beginning of the 2016–17 season, West Ham's games were marred by instances of crowd trouble. Against Bournemouth on 21 August some fans arrived with tickets for seats that did not exist. Fighting also occurred between rival supporters outside the stadium. On 26 August during a Europa League game against FC Astra Giurgiu fighting broke out in the stadium with a supporter being arrested on suspicion of causing ABH. Against Watford, rival fans fought following poor crowd segregation. On 1 October 2016, against Middlesbrough three people were arrested as violent clashes occurred. On 22 October 2016, against Sunderland rival fans confronted each other as Sunderland fans returned to transport taking them home. By 25 October 2016, 23 banning orders had been issued to fans with nine arrests. There was further crowd trouble on 26 October 2016 during West Ham's EFL Cup fourth-round game against London rivals, Chelsea. Seven people were arrested as police introduced a ban on the sale of alcohol. Plastic bottles, seats and coins were thrown during West Ham's 2–1 victory. Hundreds of supporters clashed and riot police entered the concourse. West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady said any supporter identified as having taken part in the violence would receive a lifetime ban. MP Mark Field called for West Ham to play behind closed doors should any further violence occur. In October 2016, football stadium design expert, Paul Fletcher said that the stadium should be pulled down and rebuilt as in its current design it was not right for football fans as they were too far from the pitch. In December 2016, a cameraman working for Arsenal TV was punched in the face by a West Ham supporter towards the end of West Ham's 1–5 defeat by Arsenal.
  In March 2018, there were protests against West Ham United owner, David Sullivan at the stadium during a 3–0 home defeat to Burnley. There were four pitch invasions and Sullivan was escorted from his seat before the end of the match. Sullivan was also hit on the head by a coin thrown by one of the supporters. Karren Brady called the events "one of the most painful days" in the club's history. Following the crowd trouble, West Ham banned five supporters for life for invading the pitch. Several people who had thrown coins and other objects were also given lifetime bans. Calling the scenes at the stadium a "disgrace", London mayor, Sadiq Khan said that the crowd trouble had been organised and co-ordinated. Investigation had revealed that over a dozen fights had broken out in the ground between West Ham supporters and that 26 people had attempted to invade the pitch with twenty-two being stopped by stewards. There were 150 separate incidents, including 50 public order offences and 40 assaults. CCTV footage shows a co-ordinated move by a known group of individuals towards the directors' box. Measures including increased security presence and preventing fans approaching the area holding members of the West Ham board were announced in late March. Entirely funded by the UK taxpayer and costed at £60,000, the provisions were planned for the next game, against Southampton. In June 2018, West Ham were charged by the FA with offences relating to crowd disturbances at the game against Burnley in March. In January 2019, West Ham were fined £100,000 for the disturbances. The Football Association investigation of the incidents was heavily critical of stadium operators, London Stadium 185 (LS185), and found that they had left sections which were damaging to the company out of their report. As LS185 were in control of the stadium's operations and were blamed for their actions in the disturbances (including cutting the number of stewards, poor training and unsatisfactory response to pitch invasions), West Ham sought to split the fine with the company. On 31 October 2018, during West Ham's EFL Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur, further pitch invasions took place with one invader wearing a Scream mask.
caption: Stewards (in yellow jackets) within a group of West Ham United supporters
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