For once, prime minister Andy Burnham was asked the right question at his first visit to the United Nations. “What do you think of Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza?” perhaps? “Are you concerned about the effects of Donald Trump’s war on Iran?” Or “What can be done about man-made climate change?” Not a bit of it. The Big Question was this: “Is the law that prevents supporters from having a beer at their seat during a match outdated?”
Most people, and certainly most football fans, support scrapping the law. Having watched matches abroad, notably in the Netherlands, nobody bats an eyelid about the subject. Yes, there are issues, some very serious issues, with hooliganism, but the idea that all of it happens because of people having a few pints in the stands is questionable to say the least.
While there is no doubt that some fans drink what is deemed to be too much before football matches, the reality is that most of it is consumed in the pub before the game. If you are going to get pissed on a matchday, you’re far more likely to do so in the boozer rather than in the club bars. Anything people have in the ground will be a top-up of often terrible, weak beer.
When I last went to a Dutch game, three years ago for Feyenoord Rotterdam v Go Ahead Eagles, I enjoyed a few pints before getting the metro and then tram to the stadium. Naturally, I enjoyed a further pint or two on the terraces, although it was the thoroughly abysmal Heineken Silver, all of 4% and basically Gnat’s piss (not that I am over familiar with the flavour of Gnat’s piss, but I hope you get my drift). No one is going to get steaming drunk on that stuff and anyway it being the Netherlands, more people were enjoying some weed in the smoking area at the back of the stand rather than drinking the near undrinkable.
Some people do rather lose their inhibitions when they have a few pints, including those who then fancy a ruck, but I reckon the vast majority just enjoy the beer and the occasion. It’s part of the ritual, going to the pub, meeting your mates, preparing for the game and the likely disappointment. The last bit is particularly important.
For much of the time, particularly in the lower league football I used to follow, there was little joy to be gained. Supporting a team, going to the game; it’s not all about euphoria. It’s the addiction. That 0-0 draw against Walsall on a freezing cold and rainy Saturday afternoon is a supporters’ lot. In many ways, beer is an anaesthetic to help get your through the day. I seem to remember far more laughs in the pub before the game than during it.
Rather than making it possible for fans to have a drink in the stands and on the terraces, I’d probably make it compulsory. It would be condition of the entry to the ground. “You will not be allowed into the ground unless there are some signs that you have had a drink. If you haven’t, it’s likely that you are mentally unwell. The smell of alcohol on your breath will suffice.”
I’m going to a rugby union game next week and one thing that will make it more bearable will be the availability of beer. My guess is that rugby fans consume far more beer on a matchday than football fans ever do, particularly at the ground and instances of hooliganism in both codes are limited to what happens on the pitch. In the rugby codes, and also cricket, no one thinks having a few pints at the game is a big deal. Why so in football?
It may be snobbery, given that at least lower league football retains elements of working class support. The Premier League has certainly become more middle class and the big clubs attract ‘day trippers’ who have far less affinity with their clubs in terms of familial connections and geographical links. But where the terraces remain – and they still do in the lower leagues (long may they exist) – the culture can be different.
Working class people, working class supporters, are not lesser people than their more affluent equivalents. And I don’t buy into any suggestion that we – I include myself in the ‘we’ – are more likely to misbehave “under the influence” than anyone else.
The terrace and stands booze bans, from the Premier League to the upper echelons of non-league football, were brought in because of hooliganism, real and perceived. Times have changed, policing and stewarding has improved, and as I keep saying having a few beers at the stadium is not going to turn your average punter into an Ultra, certainly not if it’s anything like Heineken Silver.
Let’s bring booze back to the terraces and stands. I’ve been to loads of non-league games where you can enjoy a pint while watching the game. It’s like being in the pub, only colder. Hardly wants to fight just because they’ve had a pint. Just treat fans as adults and you never know, we might behave like them.
