The head of the Metropolitan Police has supported Chief Constable Mark Roberts' call to reform the cost of policing football matches.

Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary, and head of the UK's football policing unit, Roberts had previously rallied for the introduction of new legislation forcing clubs, rather than the taxpayer, to cover the more than £70 million cost of policing matches.

"As things stand, the police are subsidising an incredibly wealthy and successful industry," Chief Constable Roberts told the Times.

His suggestion, however, faced criticism from sporting bodies, who said such reform could result in event disruption and increased ticket prices.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, head of the country's largest force, has now offered his support to the calls, stating there should be "more of a polluter pays approach".

Discussing his plans for radical police reforms, he told the BBC's 'Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg' programme that police forces have to "make the best use of the money we've got".

The £70 million currently going towards policing football in the UK, most of which is spent on Premier League matches, was listed as part of funding concerns.

He said: "Why isn't the organiser paying for that, rather than local communities who lose their resources to go to football matches?"

Chief Constable Mark Roberts has commended the Met chief for highlighting the issue once again and exposing it to a "wider forum".

He added: "I am pleased that Met Commissioner, Mark Rowley, has again highlighted this issue. Hopefully, the renewed focus will help to speed up the ongoing government consultation process into the current legislation."

Figures for football related police services in England and Wales totaled £71.69 million for the 2023-24 season.

Of that, the clubs paid £14.87 million, with the remaining £56.82 million coming from the public purse, according to figures provided by the UKFPU.

Roberts urged new legislation is "urgently" needed to lower the pressure on the public purse.

He said: "Men's football overwhelmingly creates the most public order deployments nationally, remaining the single most high-risk sporting events that we have to police.

"Which, given the frequency of the games in the UK, is a huge drain on our resources and means that we are essentially losing around 800 officers a year to policing football."

Currently, football clubs are only required to cover the costs incurred inside their ground or on their property.

They do not have to cover policing of surrounding streets, city centres or "the increasing marches to stadiums by fans".

"On top of this, 48% of games across all leagues incur no charges for policing, with 95% of the National League being police-free," Chief Constable Mark Roberts said.

"In a nutshell, this means that we as the police are subsidising clubs that quite happily spend close to £400m in a single transfer window."