Thiago Silva acknowledges the fans during Chelsea's Rainbow Laces match at home to Brighton in the Premier League in December 2023. | MB Media/Getty Images

Four per cent of all men’s professional soccer matches in England and Wales in the 2023/24 season were subject to reports of anti-LGBTQ hate crime incidents.

Data released this week by the UK Home Office shows reports were made at a third of all domestic first-team fixtures played by both Chelsea and Brighton from August 2023 to May 2024.

Chelsea’s campaign consisted of 51 games in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, with hate crime incidents relating to sexual orientation reported at 18 of them.

Ten of those matches were also marked as having been played amid homophobic chanting from supporters. In recent years, the west London club has worked with the relevant authorities on taking stronger actions against opposition fans responsible for shouting or singing the “rent boy” slur.

Brighton played 42 games in league and cup, with incidents of homophobia reported at 16 matches, six of those featuring “inappropriate chanting.” The club is one of several throughout the English top-flight that has a dedicated football officer assigned.

Earlier this month, a 39-year-old man was handed a three-year banning order for repeatedly shouting homophobic slurs at stewards and officers at Brighton’s stadium after the 2-0 Premier League defeat by Manchester United in May.

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Overall, hate crime incidents relating to sexual orientation or gender identity were reported at 120 matches in the top five men’s leagues and cup competitions in England and Wales last season.

That represented a small percentage increase from the previous season.

After Chelsea and Brighton, Sheffield United were the club involved in the most matches (8) where anti-LGBTQ incidents were reported, followed by Arsenal and Nottingham Forest (6 each).

All five clubs were among the 20 who played last season in the Premier League, where incidents of this type were reported at 46 out of a total of 380 matches (12%).

In EFL competitions, anti-LGBTQ incidents were reported at 19 games in the Championship, 17 in League One, 15 in League Two, and 4 in the EFL Cup.

There were 6 FA Cup ties at which homophobic incidents were recorded in the data, including the televised Chelsea vs Preston North End match in January 2024. Outsports reported on this fixture at the time, and in a ruling announced in June, the FA fined Preston £30,000 for its supporters’ anti-gay chanting directed at home fans.

It is not known how many hate crime reports were made at any of the games in question, with the Home Office noting that its data relates “to the number of football matches where an incident was reported, not the number of individual incidents.”

Fans who witness or are subjected to any form of discrimination at matches are encouraged to submit a report about their experiences, but there are different ways to do this, and no central hub that collates all the data.

The Home Office data is pulled from submissions to the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) by dedicated football officers (DFOs) and may also include information from organizations such as the English Football Association and anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out.

However, many anti-LGBTQ incidents either go unreported or the reports are sent only to the clubs or leagues, who may not then share them with the authorities.

Results published in May from a YouGov survey showed that 46% of British football fans see homophobia as a very serious or fairly serious problem in the sport.

Meanwhile, last season, there were nearly 200 more recorded incidents of online hate crime connected to football in England and Wales than in the 2022/23 campaign, although the Home Office believes this rise is “due to improved reporting” and methodology rather than a surge.

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