Alcohol could be coming back to the terraces and I am dead against it

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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. 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 ideaBut, 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. Introducing drinking in the stands wouldn’t be fair on them at all.Football has got it right not the other way aroundIt’s an obvious discrepancy that football fans can’t drink in the stands and other fans can’t.