When the news was broken this morning by my colleague Andrew Learmonth that Police Scotland had told the SPFL that they were ‘open to discussions’ on lifting football’s ban on alcohol within stadiums (well, in the poor seats, at least), the reaction from the nation’s political class was swift and predictable.
First Minister John Swinney is, he said today, ‘not sympathetic’ to the idea. Previously, Swinney has cited concerns around ‘the country’s relationship to alcohol’ and ‘ensuring that we have a safe and supportive sporting environment for all’ as reasons behind his opposition to allowing football fans to have a pint at the game.
Let’s take his first point. One can only presume then that if large-scale binge drinking at sporting events is such a threat to the nation’s health and wellbeing, and contributes so greatly to our national societal problem with alcohol, that a similar blanket ban will be coming into effect at rugby matches? Thought not.
Which brings us to the real nub of the objection. That football fans in this country are still viewed with the same mistrust as they were in the early 80s, when the Old Firm riot at the Scottish Cup final brought the current legislation into existence in the first place. You can get bladdered at Murrayfield, but not a snifter at Hampden. Unless, of course, you can afford a padded chair.
But I fail to see how the ability to have a couple of lukewarm, low strength pints at a St Mirren vs Ross County match, say, would suddenly see a return to rampaging pitch battles between the couple of hundred travelling fans and the home support.
For at the moment, it is a pilot scheme that is being floated. The introduction of ‘a limited number of pilot projects to allow alcohol to be sold to fans on the concourses’. What possible jeopardy can there be from football clubs being allowed to trial beer sales at ‘low risk’ matches to begin with, at the very least, and take it from there?
Read more:
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Police Scotland 'open to discussions' on lifting football booze ban
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John Swinney remains 'not sympathetic' to lifting football booze ban
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What is the law on alcohol at football and why was it brought in?
We all know the complex relationship between alcohol and football in the dim and distant past, so a cautious approach is sensible. But that is in fact all that the SPFL and their clubs are asking for.
People who object to football fans being afforded the opportunity to have a drink in the two hours or so that they are in the actual stadium itself seem to think they would all be necking Aftershocks or Jagerbombs along with their pie, rendering them paralytic, or downing bottles of good ol' ‘wreck the hoose juice’.
If a fan wants to partake in such behaviour prior to the match, they are free to do so, and in fact, it could be argued that the ban on buying a pint at the game encourages them to. But the pint or two they could squeeze in before the game or at half time while not in view of the pitch is hardly likely to be the thing that tips them over the edge into hooliganism.
In 1980, the fans weren’t having a pint in a plastic cup inside a stand, after all. They were sinking huge carry oots on the terraces.
One of the other objections you commonly hear when this topic rears its head is the rather snooty ‘well if you can’t go a couple of hours without a drink then you must have a problem’, which is not only a sweeping mischaracterisation of thousands of people as borderline alcoholics, but also rather spectacularly misses the point.
By that logic, why have alcohol available at any entertainment venue at all? If you can’t go to the theatre, the cinema, or yes, even the rugby without having a drink or two, then do you have a problem? Of course not. You might even choose to not have a drink at these places. But that’s the point, it’s nice to have the choice.
Personally speaking, I’m either working or I’m taking the kids to the game these days, so the chance to have a pint is neither here nor there to me. I don’t really have any skin in the game.
But having attended many hundreds of football matches over the past 40 years, first as a fan and then from the vantage point of the press box, my opinion is that a one-size fits all blanket ban on booze at football is unfair.
And having spoken to numerous clubs throughout Scotland who are crying out for any new potential revenue streams, it is also removing the opportunity for them to make some much needed extra money.
The introduction of alcohol sales in stadiums in England hasn’t led to the sort of apocalyptic scenes some seem to suggest we would see here, and in fact, there are now trials pencilled in for fans to be allowed to drink in their actual seats at women’s matches down south with a view to eventually rolling it out into the men’s game too.
Is there something specifically unique about Scottish football fans that would lead to a different outcome north of the border? If so, beyond those fears being rooted in the fact that they are predominantly (traditionally, at least) drawn from the working class, then I’m all ears.
Mr Swinney was at the Euros last summer, and was pictured in his kilt enjoying the festivities with the Tartan Army, pint in hand. Tens of thousands of Scots descended on Germany, drank in the stadiums, and were impeccably behaved. The toast of the tournament, in fact.
If we can acknowledge that our football fans are fine ambassadors for our country when abroad, why not trust them a little at home, instead of treating them like some kind of menace to society?
It’s not about fans not being able to make it through 90 minutes without a pint, or having the chance to get out of your skull when you’re at the game.
It’s about freedom of choice, and not being regarded as a second class citizen simply because your favoured sport uses a round ball instead of an oval one.
