Sunderland will enforce new measures to protect fans at the Stadium of Light after moving to ban away fans entering the stadium from bringing coins and vapes into the ground.
The Championship side decided to make the bizarre move following a series of fan disorder events in the away end of their 49,000 seater stadium. League matches against Coventry City and Burnley earlier in the season saw items thrown onto the pitch.
The club announced the decision after meeting with the Sunderland Supporters' Group last week to discuss steps that could be taken to de-escalate fan behaviour on matchdays.
The changes will come into immediate effect for Saturday's home clash with Cardiff City and is the latest in a series of decisions taken by the club to enhance fan safety at games.
Earlier in August the club brought in strict rules to crack down on violence inside the ground with all away fans being searched upon entering the stadium, increasing stewarding capacity in the North Stand and enhancing the CCTV network.
Any away fans found to be carrying coins or vapes will be asked to discard the items and will be subject to further enhanced checks before being allowed through the turnstiles.
The EFL approved the move with an official statement on the club's website reading:
'The new measures will be in place from this weekend’s home fixture versus Cardiff City and they are in addition to the operational changes made in August, which includes the searching of all away fans upon entering the stadium, increasing stewarding capacity in the North Stand and enhancing the CCTV network.
'Following a request made on Thursday morning, the EFL have agreed that coins and vapes will no longer be permitted in the away section of the North Stand at the Stadium of Light.
'Any visiting supporter found carrying these items will be asked to discard of them prior to entering the stadium, at which point they will be subjected to enhanced security procedures to further reduce the risk of objects entering the stadium which can be used as missiles.
'This information will be clearly communicated to all visiting Clubs in advance and all vapes will be sustainably discarded, with any coins confiscated donated to the away Club’s nominated charity
Sunderland also looked into the possibility of installing netting in front of the away end to prevent 'missiles' from being thrown at players on the pitch. But decided against the move after discovering that netting wouldn't stop smaller projectiles.