A trial is underway looking at whether a 40 year-rule should be changed
Jamie Greer is the under-35s writer for the Liverpool Echo and other Reach titles. He mainly covers stories relevant for 16 to 35 year-olds, along with general and breaking news. He focuses on young entrepreneurs, property stories, health and interesting places to visit in Merseyside. Jamie studied History and Politics at the University of Manchester and completed a Master’s Degree with an NCTJ qualification at the University of Salford before joining the ECHO. He has worked with other media publications covering news and sport.
I've been going to football stadiums all my life and there's one rule I would like to keep
I've been going to football stadiums all my life and there's one rule I would like to keep
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You’re in a tightly packed stadium watching your favourite football team when they score a last-minute winner. But instead of enjoying the moment with those around you, your clothes and hair get drenched thanks to someone throwing a pint of beer in the air in celebration.
That’s the reality that football fans could be facing in the future and I am dead against it. Since 1985, consumption of alcohol from the stands in the top five tiers of the beautiful game has been banned.
You’re still allowed to drink in the concourse, but no one is allowed to bring their pint to their seat.
The rule was introduced in 1985 as part of efforts to tackle hooliganism. But football violence has reduced dramatically since then, stadiums are much safer and the ban was never applied to fans in stadiums watching other sports, such as cricket and rugby so I can see why people want the change.
The Football Supporters Association said in 2016: “Football fans are used to facing severe restrictions around drinking at the match – something fans of no other sport have to deal with.
“Commentators pass fond, amused comment at the sight of crickets’ Barmy Army and their beer snakes; the drinking culture associated with Rugby Union is deemed more or less harmless – nice middle class boys and their jolly japes and rousing songs. But it’s only football that has specific alcohol related legislation.”
York Outer MP Luke Charters said in May this year: “Perhaps it is time for a modern approach to a modern game. The days of hooliganism are gone. Fans of other sports can drink in the stands but football fans cannot.”
Over the past year, the rule has been relaxed in some circumstances. For the second half of the 2024-25 season drinking was allowed in the stands at four clubs in the Women’s Championship (now the Women’s Super League two).
This trial has been extended this season to some clubs in the top tier of the women’s game, meaning those watching Everton facing Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium last weekend could enjoy a pint from their seat.
I can see why there would be little issues with the change in a match like this. Women’s football matches tend to be more family friendly than the men’s matches and have lower attendances - 18,154 people watched the game at the Hill Dickinson on Sunday, which has a capacity of 52,769.
A terrible idea
But, as someone who has been going to Liverpool men’s games since I was eight, I think abandoning the alcohol rule all together would be a terrible idea. To understand why, you have to think about how people use alcohol in other environments.
I’ve watched several football matches at indoor venues over the years and had beer spilled over me as a goal has gone in. I’ve been to gigs and had to dodge flying plastic pint glasses landing on me as a popular song has been played.
The problem is not how football fans use alcohol - it’s how large public crowds behave generally these days. People seem to throw their pint in the air because it seems like a fun, care-free thing to do, without thinking about how annoying it is to everyone around you.
Currently, fans at men's football matches in the top five tiers can't take their drinks to their seat
Currently, fans at men's football matches in the top five tiers can't take their drinks to their seat
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I’ll admit, I have been to cricket matches and enjoyed a pint in the stands. While it was a novelty to enjoy a lager from my seat, I found it was more trouble than it was worth.
I had to go to the loo far more often than I normally do at football matches and was worried constantly about spilling mine or my mate’s drinks.
Thankfully there were a fair amount of empty seats, so I didn’t feel like I was massively inconveniencing the people around me. But this wouldn’t be the case if it was introduced to men’s matches in the top flight, where you’re packed in like sardines.
Imagine the inconvenience of having to be constantly out of your seat to let people get their drinks in, and how a gentle nudge could lead to your pint being spilled everywhere.
Football crowds are also far more diverse now than they were in 1985. There are many who avoid alcohol because of religious reasons or they may have experienced problems with drinking in the past. Introducing drinking in the stands wouldn’t be fair on them at all.
Football has got it right not the other way around
It’s an obvious discrepancy that football fans can’t drink in the stands and other fans can’t. But I’d argue it’s football that has got it right, not the other way around.
In June 2022, Yorkshire County Cricket Club launched an investigation after a spectator at Headingly was filmed falling down rows of seats. He had apparently drunk 10 pints in 12 minutes.
In the same year, the Welsh Rugby Union ordered weaker beer to be served in the Principality Stadium, with the bar closing entirely for the second half after a spate of incidents. These included a six year-old being vomited on by a drunk man.
Are these the sort of problems we want to potentially introduce across football? I don’t think so. On this issue, the authorities have the right idea and it’s working.
If you want a drink, you can do so beforehand in the pub or during the match on the concourse, away from your seat. Let’s keep it that way and avoid future problems further down the line.