West Ham fan Chf Supt Rob Jones on policing the club’s new home - the Olympic Stadium - and his officers raising £1,800 in a charity footie match for Richard House Children’s Hospice.

As a life long Hammer and season ticket holder, I was really pleased that the football season ended so well last week.

This was West Ham’s 17th Premier League season and the club has done brilliantly, finishing 10th with 46 points. After WHUFC were promoted from the Championship last year, the club seemed determined to hold onto their position in the League and there have been some great matches this season.

My favourite moment in particular was when we beat Chelsea 3-1 in December 2012; Carlton Cole’s goal was nothing short of inspired!

In terms of policing, last season was very calm, with very few arrests and little disorder.

We conducted a lot of proactive operations, which resulted in several arrests being made for racial chanting at some of the mid-season games.

We also worked closely with other forces, for example, Northumbria Police during the WHUFC - Sunderland game, to share any intelligence and prevent any disorder.

Whilst the issue of hooliganism is unfortunately still prevalent in football in general, I’m always proud to be able to say that I’m a Hammer - our fans are, in general, very well behaved, which keeps the matches good fun and brilliant family days out.

We at Newham Police are really excited by the forthcoming WHUFC move to the Olympic stadium in 2015, and we will be meeting with all our partners early next year to begin planning the relevant policing and partnership strategies.

On Monday 10th June, Newham police officers and staff held a charity football tournament at the Boleyn ground in aid of Richard House Children’s Hospice.18 seven-a-side teams played, and we raised over £1,800 for the charity! I’m thrilled that West Ham kindly allowed us to use their pitch for our event and we always enjoy working in partnership with WHUFC to raise money for the local community.

Last season also saw the highest average match attendance in West Ham’s 118 history, with 659,677 supporters attending the home games.

That’s an average of 34,720 fans per game and shows how loyal ‘Irons’ fans can be. Until next season, take care!