English crackdown on rapid increase in flares at Premier League games

By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – English football is clamping down on the use of flares and smoke bombs, widely used by supporters across much of Europe but, until recently, all but absent from the English game. According to new statistics, in the first three months of this season alone, there were 96 pyrotechnic incidents across the Premier League, Football League, non-league games and domestic cup competitions – compared to just eight throughout the entire campaign in 2010-11.