'Consuming alcohol in view of the pitch'

[king canary 8,758]

Along with the all seater rules, this feels like the most outdated law when it comes to football for me.

It doesn''t remotely stop people from getting drunk on match days and creates ridiculous rushes at half time for bottles of pissy Carling.

Anyone else agree?

[Van wink 2,994]

It aint Carling anymore

[Van wink 2,994]

I''m ok will allowing beer in the stands, draw the line a P1$$ running down the terraces though.

[hogesar 10,766]

Yeah it is a bit odd. If anything it causes people to drink like fck beforehand and at half time.

I mean I''m not bothered either way. On particularly warm games with the sun shining on the lower barclay it would be nice to be able to have a cold one but beyond that not bothered.

[SwindonCanary 457]

An out dated law

[SwindonCanary 457]

An out dated law

[king canary 8,758]

There was faintly ludicrous situation at Birmingham of a bunch of us trying to down our shitty Bulmers by the entrance to the stand with the stewards occasionally ushering us back in case we could see any blades of grass.

Also once did corporate at Arsenal and experienced the blinds being closed at kick off so we could keep drinking without seeing the pitch that seemed to rather defeat the point.

And yes Hogesar it just leads to some serious binging pre game by many. I remember travelling down from London for an early kick off v West Ham while there was rail replacement buses- I was surrounded by ''Ammers downing cans of larger on a bus to Billericay at 9am.

[CANARYKING 708]

Never understood why people are so desperate to drink. Four “ fans “ near me are :

1, late getting in

2, after sitting for twenty minutes go out for a pee

3, five minutes before half time stand up and dash to the bar

4, late getting back

5, see 2

6, ten minutes before the end leave to go down the pub

I estimate they miss at least thirty minutes of play. Why do they bother ?

[andrew norwichcity 8]

I sit on a row in the upper Jarrold in line with the half way line and the amount of times I get up each game is a complete joke. I estimate I get up during the game about 10-15 times at least. There''s one guy I get up for EVERY game 4 times. Late to the game, leaves before half time, comes back after we''ve kicked off again and leaves early. The row I sit on is a total joke randomly getting up before half time if we''re playing rubbish. If we''re losing near the end there''s about 6 or 7 seats empty to my right! EVERY game when losing. Even if we''re looking to equalize.

I like a beer as much as anyone but I have manners and I think it is great that people can''t drink in the stands. I dread to think what my row would be like if people could go and get a beer. I would say who sits on my row... but everyone knows them ha.

[king canary 8,758]

Wow, it must be so difficult having to...stand up a few times.

[andrew norwichcity 8]

I don''t find it difficult to get up. I do find it difficult to understand why people think its ok to make other people get up every game so many times. Which would be added to if you could freely get a beer at any point and bring it back out into the stands. If this was a sport which had stoppages etc I wouldn''t really care.

[lake district canary 4,831]

Having plastic glasses full of beer all over the place in the stadium would lead to a stinking mess of spilled beer, beer thrown in the air and covering anyone around when a goal is scored and frankly just make the whole place unpleasant.  It''s a football stadium first, not a pub and the fact that you can get a drink there is a privilege, not a necessity.

 

[Crabbycanary3 994]

That, and the rule that once, you are injured, you have to go to the sidelines.

Oh, and how protectively anal are Linesmen when there''s a sub coming on, and put a sheite scared face that the sub will get onto the pitch before the substituted player has got off the pitch, or at least got within touching distance of his replacement.

[Surfer 1,547]

Just shocking. Over here you can buy beer and hot dogs, peanuts and eat / drink at your seat. Make as much mess as you want (especially with all of the peanut shells). You might even get a cotton candy from the vendor that wanders around the stand....

Of course the quality of football is a joke, and with baseball you can easily fall asleep, but hey ho, at least you can drink a beer and soak up some sun.

btw LA have a new striker called Ibrahimovich or something? He seems pretty good. If you give him the ball in front of the net he''ll tap it in. Not sure if he''s Russian? That seems to be a popular trend over here, they are getting everywhere apparently. I hear the Miller beer company are looking into that.

[canarydan23 4,762]

"Having plastic glasses full of beer all over the place in the stadium would lead to a stinking mess of spilled beer, beer thrown in the air and covering anyone around when a goal is scored and frankly just make the whole place unpleasant. It''s a football stadium first, not a pub and the fact that you can get a drink there is a privilege, not a necessity."

You''re allowed to drink bottles of fizzy drinks in your seat. Having plastic bottles of fizzy drinks all over the place in the stadium would lead to a stinking mess of spilled fizzy drink, fizzy drink being thrown in the air and covering anyone around them when a goal is scored and frankly just make the whole place unpleasant.

Wait, that''s not what happens though, is it?

[Indy_Bones 444]

I''d completely ban alcohol from being served at grounds if I''m honest, people go to watch football and not have a pi$$ up, and it''s only 2 hours FFS, if you''re that desperate for a drink, then there''s an underlying issue there IMHO.

Binge drinkers will binge regardless, so simply let people wander into the pubs and bars before and after games, and leave the actual stadium and match purely for football purposes.

What''s next? Demanding beers at kids play areas because people can''t handle an hour or so without a drink...?

[Hairy Canary 754]

Things have changed massively.

Racist and homophobic chanting is less, smoking has gone, alcohol access is restricted, more women and kids attend, all seating. It has become a much more inclusive and family orientated experience. Even the games themselves are different with less tackling and often slower build up and less long ball. The whole experience is more upmarket, quieter, sanitized and expensive. Removing alcohol from the seating areas is just a small part of this move.

Not all these changes are to everyone''s taste but there is no doubt that the sport is much more popular now since those changes than before they happened. Live game attendances are way up compared to the pre-premiership era and millions are prepared to pay for TV access.

It might appeal less to those who can''t manage to get through 45 minutes without a pint but they are way in the minority. Long may that be the case.

[king canary 8,758]

Yes that is clearly the next logical step...

You can have a beer at pretty much every other sporting event I can think of. It is bizarre I can go to Wembley to watch the NFL and happily have a beer or two in my seat yet at the same stadium for a different sport I can''t.

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="king canary"]Yes that is clearly the next logical step...

You can have a beer at pretty much every other sporting event I can think of. It is bizarre I can go to Wembley to watch the NFL and happily have a beer or two in my seat yet at the same stadium for a different sport I can''t.[/quote]It''s not at all bizarre. The difference is not the sport, it''s the culture around it. 

[Guest]

If people can''t go a couple of hours without a beer then that is their problem.

Have a beer or two before and the same after if you want but is it that important to have anymore during the game?

I have never understood, especially nowadays with the higher prices, why anyone would want to miss any of the game. It amazes me when people get up five minutes before half time to get a drink. And then leave early because we are losing.

[lake district canary 4,831]

[quote user="canarydan23"]"Having plastic glasses full of beer all over the place in the stadium would lead to a stinking mess of spilled beer, beer thrown in the air and covering anyone around when a goal is scored and frankly just make the whole place unpleasant. It''s a football stadium first, not a pub and the fact that you can get a drink there is a privilege, not a necessity."

You''re allowed to drink bottles of fizzy drinks in your seat. Having plastic bottles of fizzy drinks all over the place in the stadium would lead to a stinking mess of spilled fizzy drink, fizzy drink being thrown in the air and covering anyone around them when a goal is scored and frankly just make the whole place unpleasant.

Wait, that''s not what happens though, is it?[/quote]

Err...could be something to do with the alcohol??  Something in the English culture makes people want to throw beer in the air when excited by a goal or something else....or it could be the alcohol content.

Every match you go to home or away you will see fans that are paralytic. At Birmingham there were three fans near me who were so intent on getting beer down their necks that in the first half, they turned up well after the kick off, were barely able to stand up lolling around in a stupor and then disappeared after about half an hour and didn''t appear in the second half until they staggered in after about ten minutes in.  Unpleasant to be near, incapable of following the football and just plain anti-social.  So giving drunken fans the opportunity to bring beer in to a stadium where football is on is not a good idea.  Some of us are abe to hold their drink or just enjoy one or two, but others are not ok with just one or two.

[canarydan23 4,762]

Christ man, it''s two halves of 45 minutes, allowing people to drink in view of the pitch will mean they''ll have an extra two bottles of lager. It''ll make next to no bloody difference, as the people who want to drink in view of the pitch will have drunk prior to the game and possibly after the game as well.

I often pop into the Jubilee prior to kickoff and guess what, there are dozens of people DRINKING ALCOHOL. From half one the Nelson is three deep at the bar with people queuing to BUY ALCOHOL. You can''t move in Lloyds for people CONSUMING ALCOHOL. Do these people go into the ground and throw their tea, coffee, Coca-Cola or Oasis everywhere when we score? No. But apparently if you put a beer in their hand they''ll automatically want to shower everyone else around them with it. Do me a favour. You get b*gger all change out of £4 for a bottle of cr*p lager in Carrow Road these day. I''m going to make sure I drink every last drop.

The people that want alcohol to be part of their matchday experience will make it so regardless. And your three fans at Birmingham, imagine if they could drink whilst watching the game? They wouldn''t have arrived late nor would they have left early as they could have stayed rooted to their seats whilst supping their poison.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Goodness me, it''s not difficult.

It''s not about getting as much beer down your neck as possible. It is about the vast majority of people having a choice if they want to, alongside what other sporting events dictate. A social beer, like most of us enjoy, is being deprived because of the minority. Where have I heard that before? I can go to places and just have one beer, and still enjoy myself (like the majority of us)

IF you are obviously drunk then the stewards should remove you/bar you from entering, simple really. You don''t get into other venues around the World, if you are bladdered, so that should be a start.

Yes it is football ''culture'' but it doesn''t mean it is right, and it doesn''t mean it cannot be corrected (like other things already mentioned.

[Mr Apples 1,407]

Even though Scottish football is frequently compared to a pub league no booze is allowed to be consumed during the match (except for the prawn sandwich brigade).

Apples

[TIL 1010 5,246]

I go to the pub around 1pm and have two or three pints with friends before walking to the ground and after we meet up and continue drinking into the evening. I have no desire or need to drink during the game but some see it as a badge of honour to drink for hours on end because it is football day.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

I cannot think of any situation less convivial for having a pint of beer than sitting on a narrow plastic seat, basically outside, which makes for a chilly environment in the Winter months, and surrounded in fairly close proximity by farting, stinking strangers. A beer which has to be consumed from a plastic container and which was probably over-priced.

Then there is the frequent need for a pee and the necessity of having to stand whilst balancing that pint in hand when others need to go.

Being the footballing connoisseur that I am I like to absorb and diagnose the game fully so I usually avoid a drink even before the game.

The post match booze-up is another thing, and all the more enjoyable if it follows a brief drought and a favourable result.

However, we cannot have too many rules imposed upon us by others and spectators should have choice, although the complicated prospect of seating arrangements would probably need to be considered if the affair became a bit of a binge-fest for the many.

A football stand during a match presents a confrontational environment and alcohol is alcohol. More trouble is bound to ensue.

Is it true that guests in the hotel rooms facing the ground cannot drink during the match? Now that is stupid.

Smoking has long since been taboo in public places. As a youngster I used to enjoy watching the constant ephemeral glows of people lighting up in the South Stand as the night closed in on an evening fixture.

From seats to sisterns the spectator experience at a football match is certainly more sanitized in every way these days. The behaviour of the participants on the pitch seems to have deteriorated accordingly, although there won''t be any connection.

[lake district canary 4,831]

[quote user="canarydan23"]Christ man, it''s two halves of 45 minutes, allowing people to drink in view of the pitch will mean they''ll have an extra two bottles of lager. It''ll make next to no bloody difference, as the people who want to drink in view of the pitch will have drunk prior to the game and possibly after the game as well.

I often pop into the Jubilee prior to kickoff and guess what, there are dozens of people DRINKING ALCOHOL. From half one the Nelson is three deep at the bar with people queuing to BUY ALCOHOL. You can''t move in Lloyds for people CONSUMING ALCOHOL. Do these people go into the ground and throw their tea, coffee, Coca-Cola or Oasis everywhere when we score? No. But apparently if you put a beer in their hand they''ll automatically want to shower everyone else around them with it. Do me a favour. You get b*gger all change out of £4 for a bottle of cr*p lager in Carrow Road these day. I''m going to make sure I drink every last drop.

The people that want alcohol to be part of their matchday experience will make it so regardless. And your three fans at Birmingham, imagine if they could drink whilst watching the game? They wouldn''t have arrived late nor would they have left early as they could have stayed rooted to their seats whilst supping their poison.[/quote]

I don''t go to a football match to see drunks falling about the place spilling beer, disturbing others and generally being anti social to those who are actually trying to watch the football. They would be in and out more often than they are now to get refills for one thing. 

There is an initiative in air travel to stop serving drinks on planes because people can''t handle themselves with the non stop drinking and being a nuisance with their behaviour - it''s a national problem - some people have no self-control when it comes to booze.   Last season at Sheff Utd, there were drunks amongst our fans who were spoiling it for those around them by being beligerent, pushing through past other fans, refusing to move from gangways to let people through and generally being a pain.  At least during the match they get at least a short time away from their mind numbing self-intoxicating habits. 

I would stop alcohol altogether from grounds, let people drink before and after but not during - the same is going to happen in other areas of life like flying.  The growing culture of "I''m doing what I want to do regardless of how it affects others" culture is spoiling it for those who can control themselves and know how to behave.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Yeah! Yeah! The many decent people get their preferences restricted because of the behaviour of the few.

This seems to be the thing nowadays.

[king canary 8,758]

Wow, who knew we had so many bloody puritans on here.

People are drunk at football matches now- letting them have a drink or two during the game might actually let some folks pace themselves a bit better and prevent the ludicrous crush at halftime. Maybe we should have a dry stand for the folks on this thread though...

[Hairy Canary 754]

Pace themselves? It''s just stopping for 45 minutes!