FANS of Newport County are currently the best behaved in Wales.

The Home Office have published figures for the number of football banning orders currently in force across England and Wales.

Just six banning orders are currently in place for County fans, and just one was handed out last season.

In comparison to their South Wales rivals, the Exiles come out well, albeit with a smaller fanbase.

Cardiff City have 25 banning orders in place, while Swansea City have 12.

Up north, Wrexham have had 11 banning orders handed out to their fans.

In total in England and Wales, 969 banning orders were handed out to fans last season, a reduction on the year before when 1,007 new orders were dished out.

County's fellow League Two club Mansfield Town had the worst behaved fans last season, as the Stags received 34 new banning orders, the most in the English Football League and the National League.

Also making the hall of shame were Bolton Wanderers, with 24 new orders, and West Ham with 14.

Of the 969 new bans, 287 were handed out for hate crime reasons, and the vast majority of the latter were because of racist abuse.

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There were 214 banning orders handed out for racist abuse last season, up from 152 the year before, and 94 the year before that.

The UK’s football policing lead, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts of South Yorkshire Police, described the hate crime data as “incredibly concerning”.

“We want to see this behaviour eradicated from football,” he said in a statement released to the Press Association.

“We are working closely with Kick it Out, the Premier League and other partners, with a concerted effort to tackle hate crime both in the stadium and online.

“It is important the clubs and the leagues continue to ensure the police are made aware of all incidents so local forces can work with them to tackle the incidents as they occur.

“We are also working to help tackle the causes of hate crime, with a mixture of education, helping those involved to understand the harm it causes, and diversionary activities for young supporters.

“This will remain a focus until we are able to eliminate this vile behaviour and ensure a safe and friendly space for everyone to support and enjoy football.”

A Home Office spokesman added: “Hate crime has no place in football or anywhere else and we must all come together to confront it.

“The increase shown in these statistics is partly down to better recording and awareness, but we have no complacency in stamping out this evil from the game.

“We are bringing forward legislation to force social media companies to remove racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic abuse and we are working closer than ever before with the football authorities to bring perpetrators to justice.”