An investigation into the rise in domestic abuse reporting as result of English professional football fixtures.

As a nation of football lovers, we love to enjoy and celebrate football fixtures more than any other sports or any other country. As much as the football plays a vital role in sports entertainment for the whole nation, it poses some very serious challenges for the police in tackling domestic violence incidents, resulting directly from increased level of drunk and disorders. This article focuses on the hidden and under-researched area of the massive impact of football fixtures on domestic abuse cases. The article examines and discusses the contributing factors arising from football fixtures impacting to the increased number of reporting of domestic violence cases, such as, the whether, the scoreline, kick off time, the day of the match and alcohol intoxication levels. A mixed method approach has been applied to conduct in-depth literature review and secondary data analysis, to explore the facts and figures which reflect domestic abuse reporting to the police, before, during and after a game. Moreover, the article provides a deeper understanding as to why football has such a significant effect on domestic abuse in England. The overall analysis reflects on the FIFA World Cup, The UEFA European Championship and the English Premier League.