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Alcohol and Football


Alcohol and Football  

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The topic is being discussed on a different thread, so rather than clog that up I thought it would be best ask the question separately.

In my opinion, the alcohol ban is an outdated policy that serves a limited purpose in the modern game.

Steward and Police presence has vastly changed since 1980 when the ban was imposed and I believe the risks of similar incidents occurring at a match are somewhat mitigated, although you can never fully eliminate this risk altogether whether alcohol is served at the ground or not.

Not to mention the policy hamstrings a potentially lucrative income stream that many clubs would no doubt benefit from.

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The only real argument to be made for keeping it is as part of an overarching strategy to change Scottish society's relationship with alcohol. Pretty much all of our social events revolve around alcohol consumption, and that's probably not a good thing.

But this overarching strategy doesn't currently exist, so scrap the ban.

The idea that there's going to be crowd trouble at an Old Firm because Rangers sell everyone a pint of watered-down piss every half is pretty ludicrous.

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Just now, kennie makevin said:

The idea of wanting or needing to have an alcoholic drink while sitting in a football ground is what's really outdated.  

Could you expand a bit more?

Why would someone wanting a drink while watching football be any different to someone wanting a drink during any other form of entertainment? Football is an entertainment business so it's no different to people fancying a tipple while at a gig, at a comedy show or at home watching the TV.

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I also feel selling alcohol in a stadium could potentially have a positive impact in different ways. Currently, if fans want a drink they'd need to go to the pub.

If alcohol was sold in the stadium, you'd see more people leaving pubs earlier to enter the stadium, increasing the likelihood they spend more money directly with the club through food and drink sales. Additionally, as touched on by @G51, stadium pints would likely be less lethal than in the pub and the rate of being served would potentially be slower. As such, I don't think it would do much to increase the intoxication levels if at all.

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Just now, AJF said:

I also feel selling alcohol in a stadium could potentially have a positive impact in different ways. Currently, if fans want a drink they'd need to go to the pub.

If alcohol was sold in the stadium, you'd see more people leaving pubs earlier to enter the stadium, increasing the likelihood they spend more money directly with the club through food and drink sales. Additionally, as touched on by @G51, stadium pints would likely be less lethal than in the pub and the rate of being served would potentially be slower. As such, I don't think it would do much to increase the intoxication levels if at all.

Police Scotland will never go for it.

There are more fixtures than just the OF that fans see as a 'day out' and get on it from early in the morning. For those games the police will see the football as 2 hours of 'drying up' time for those folk.

You could categorise games but who decides that and to be honest there would be reasonable argument to say any OF away game with folk travelling could be seen as a heightened risk and imagine the outcry then.

I'd love to see it back but Police Scotland will just never play ball.

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1 minute ago, ropy said:

I think the bottom two leagues should have the ability to serve alcohol.  After five years review things and if all is well move things on to the Championship and repeat.

I think it would particularly help smaller clubs. Look at any Junior football ground that has a clubhouse or members bar as an example. The potential is there for clubs to get a much needed cash injection.

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4 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Police Scotland will never go for it.

There are more fixtures than just the OF that fans see as a 'day out' and get on it from early in the morning. For those games the police will see the football as 2 hours of 'drying up' time for those folk.

You could categorise games but who decides that and to be honest there would be reasonable argument to say any OF away game with folk travelling could be seen as a heightened risk and imagine the outcry then.

I'd love to see it back but Police Scotland will just never play ball.

Yep, appreciate that. However, I'd argue that fans who want a drink on matchdays will drink no matter what. Whether that be at pubs before hand, a carry out for the bus journey or sneaking a bottle into the ground. If you introduce selling alcohol at grounds, you've got the opportunity for football to control the consumption to an extent and have more people in the stadium compared to spread across nearby pubs would be easier to mange I'd have thought.

 

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Just now, AJF said:

Yep, appreciate that. However, I'd argue that fans who want a drink on matchdays will drink no matter what. Whether that be at pubs before hand, a carry out for the bus journey or sneaking a bottle into the ground. If you introduce selling alcohol at grounds, you've got the opportunity for football to control the consumption to an extent and have more people in the stadium compared to spread across nearby pubs would be easier to mange I'd have thought.

 

Do you think many would choose to drink in the stadium pre match opposed to the pub?

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2 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

If you cannot go for under two hours without an alcoholic beverage, then you should re-evaluate your relationship with alcohol.

 

Keep the ban.

My main argument would be the choice of consuming alcohol rather than the need to consume it.

I've had my season ticket since I was 16 and I am now 31, in all that time I have been able to go for two hours without a drink, that's not the issue.

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