When Celtic announced last week they had been granted a licence to sell alcohol inside Parkhead it raised hopes around the country that Scottish football was finally set to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Not since the Scottish Cup final at Hampden back in 1980 – an infamous match between Celtic and Rangers which ended with both sets of supporters invading the pitch to do battle – have fans been able to enjoy a drink at a game here.
George Younger, the then Secretary of State of Scotland, blamed it on the bevvy. The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 was duly passed which prohibited the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages inside sports grounds.
George McCluskey, who scored the winning goal for Billy McNeill’s team in extra-time on that stiflingly hot summer’s day, still gets grief from his mates about it some 42 years on.
Our leading clubs’ stadiums today bear no resemblance to those of that bygone era. No longer are spectators herded into caged terraces like cattle awaiting slaughter. The Taylor Report recommended all-seated arena when it came out in 1990 and the match day experience has become far safer and much more enjoyable.
But it will still be as difficult for supporters to get a pint at the World Cup in Qatar – a country where drinking alcohol and being drunk in public is against the law and can result in deportation – in the coming weeks as it is at a cinch Premiership game.
Cynics will point to the trouble which regularly flares at high-profile matches as proof that Scottish football fans cannot be trusted to behave and argue the ban should remain in place. It is certainly true that missiles are regularly hurled at players and match officials by those who have overindulged.
However, would allowing sensible punters to have a lager or a wine in a plastic glass in a controlled environment away from the pitch before kick-off really lead to trouble? It seems an absurd restriction in 2022.
Will our elected representatives at Holyrood - at a time when they should really be looking to give our clubs a much-needed financial fillip amid an economic downturn - now look to go further by restricting or even banning alcohol advertising and promotion?
The SFA and SPFL issued a joint statement yesterday warning the implications of doing so would be “extremely grave”. The governing bodies feel that it could cost the national game millions in revenue. They also predicted that it will jeopardise this country’s chances of being a joint host of the Euro 2028 or future UEFA club competition finals.
The Scottish government, in common with many of their European counterparts, are currently considering far-reaching proposals, including prohibiting alcohol advertising outdoors. They outlined the reasons why they may choose to take such drastic measures earlier this week.
“International evidence shows that seeing alcohol marketing is associated with an increased likelihood that children and young people will start to drink alcohol or, if they already drink alcohol, drink more,” a statement read.
Make no mistake, a ban could happen. In France sports competitions are not allowed to contain alcohol branding as a consequence of Loi Evin, a law passed in 1991.
Foreign football teams who visit must remove offending logos from their kits or promote a low or non-alcoholic product instead. In rugby union, the Heinken Cup is known as the H Cup and the Guinness Six Nations Championship is referred to simply as Six Nations Greatness.
There is certainly no doubt that destructive drinking is a huge issue in Scotland – the government stressed that on average 700 people are hospitalised and 24 people die every week as a result of alcohol-related illnesses – and everything possible must be done to address those alarming figures.
But if alcohol advertising and sponsorship are responsible for so many ills then why is it not an issue to the same degree in Italy, Portugal, Spain or Turkey? Those countries have far fewer alcohol-specific deaths than the United Kingdom. Surely it is as much a societal as a sporting problem.
Spain banned the sponsorship of sport by an alcohol brand with an ABV higher than 20 per cent in 2012. They recognised that breweries invested heavily in football, including at age-group level, and did not want to lose that income. So the answer could be in a compromise, a measured prohibition if you will.
Surely having solvent and flourishing football clubs encourages people to take part in sport. The money our elite clubs, who make a fraction of what the members of the larger continental leagues do from broadcasting, bank from their partnerships with drinks firms is invested at grassroots level.
Stopping alcohol sponsorship could potentially have a devastating impact on youth sport in Scotland.
