Alcohol and Football

[Clown Job]

Considering the number of games that are played across the SPFL alone, football would probably hold up as one of the safer public events when compared to others across the country 

Im old enough to remember the SG backing TITP despite its horrific record of alcohol/drug abuse, violence and sexual assaults. People would be coming home in bodybags evert year 

But it was considering a culture event so it got a pass

Football on the other hand… we are all scum and deserved to be treated as such. 

I find it hard to believe the current blanket ban on alcohol at football is a class issue and not a public safety one.

A lot of the people who back it, only seem to think 2 teams play in Scotland 

Would I expect alcohol to be served at a Celtic v Rangers game? Course not, but I’ve yet to hear an argument why you couldn’t enjoy a beer watching say Queen’s Park v Peterhead. 

[invergowrie arab]

Does the "needing" a drink at the football = a problem, just apply to the stadium or do these weirdos deny themselves a beer watching a game at home to feel pious about their self control? 

[AJF]

12 minutes ago, coprolite said:

I got arrested and later fined for drinking a can on the way to hampden many years ago. 

My boss (in Wales) could have had me sacked but instead said "what! That's ridiculous. I'd get arrested all the time if that was the law here." 

As with all forms of prohibition, it criminalises people who cause no harm. 

Aye, I think it heavily depends on the type of police officer you meet on whether they will enforce action. When we played Motherwell at Ibrox I stepped off our supporters bus with one of they wee Gin and Tonic cans and a police officer clocked me. She just came over and asked me to pour it out and chuck it in the bin but said I'd get fined if another officer was having a bad day.

Edited April 4, 2022 by AJF

[Bairnardo]

Does the "needing" a drink at the football = a problem, just apply to the stadium or do these weirdos deny themselves a beer watching a game at home to feel pious about their self control? 

Yeah, a fairly snide narrative for me tbh. Something quite nasty and snobby about it in all honesty.

[coprolite]

5 minutes ago, AJF said:

Aye, I think it heavily depends on the type of police officer you meet on whether they will enforce action. When we played Motherwell at Ibrox I stepped off our supporters bus with one of they wee Gin and Tonic cans and a police officer clocked. Just came over and asked me to pour it out and chuck it in the bin but said I'd get fined if another office was having a bad day.

Clever of you to disguise your buckfast like that. 

[AJF]

Just now, coprolite said:

Clever of you to disguise your buckfast like that. 

Drink less ned-ish drinks get treated less ned-ish 

[Merkincher Clach & County]

10 hours ago, parsforlife said:

That is absolute shite, do you honestly believe that racism or sectarianism would not be part of football or wider society without alcohol?

Do try and read the post properly.

Flares, pitch invasions, and of course throwing "empty alcohol bottles", clue is in the last one.

So! throwing empty alcohol bottles onto the park has nothing to do with drinking alcohol or being drunk? 

Fact,  alcohol is and always has been the root cause of of the majority of incidents at football matches.

 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Do try and read the post properly.
Flares, pitch invasions, and of course throwing "empty alcohol bottles", clue is in the last one.
So! throwing empty alcohol bottles onto the park has nothing to do with drinking alcohol or being drunk? 
Fact,  alcohol is and always has been the root cause of of the majority of incidents at football matches.
 

If they hadn’t been drinking alcohol then the bottles would still be full and more dangerous meaning that ….

Hang on I’ve made a mistake here somewhere

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Surprised Magee's hipflask hasnt made it onto the turf yet tbqh.

[coprolite]

4 minutes ago, Merkincher Clach & County said:

Do try and read the post properly.

Flares, pitch invasions, and of course throwing "empty alcohol bottles", clue is in the last one.

So! throwing empty alcohol bottles onto the park has nothing to do with drinking alcohol or being drunk? 

Fact,  alcohol is and always has been the root cause of of the majority of incidents at football matches.

 

Cause or aggravating factor? 

I've been pished at the football loads, as have a great many people i know. As far as i know, the worst anyone i know has behaved is shouting obscenities at opposition fans, who by and large deserve it. 

If alcohol was the root cause of arseholery i'd expect it would have manifested by now. 

The root cause of people behaving like arseholes is people being arseholes. 

[Merkincher Clach & County]

39 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Cause or aggravating factor? 

I've been pished at the football loads, as have a great many people i know. As far as i know, the worst anyone i know has behaved is shouting obscenities at opposition fans, who by and large deserve it. 

If alcohol was the root cause of arseholery i'd expect it would have manifested by now. 

The root cause of people behaving like arseholes is people being arseholes. 

 

Great new fashion, get p....d,  go to a football match and shout  obscenities at opposition fans.

Or meet Dundee fans on thill for a scrap!

I  normally go to watch the players on the park trying to score goals.

And people are wondering how the vast majority of football grounds in Scotland are not at capacity every week. 

 

 

[DukDukGoose]

3 hours ago, Dons_1988 said:

Quite amazing the number of people who are happy for Scottish football to be treated as the pariah of the sporting world in the uk because ‘folk might go to the toilet’.

Is there any other professional sport where it is banned?

anyone citing incidents like yesterday as a reason not to allow it has to ask themselves if it’s the ban on alcohol at stadiums that is standing between yesterday and a full on bloodbath at football? Of course it’s not. 

You can’t expect blanket legislation to eradicate societal issues. In fact I think it’s much more likely that booze in grounds would reduce the amount of ‘tanking up’ done pre match that sees guys off their face by lunchtime and downright violent by Saturday night. 

Based on what?

[AJF]

7 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

Based on what?

I think offering the chance for fans to have a drink in the stadium would potentially limit the number of fans buying high percentage drinks and tanning them/smuggling them into the ground.

Yesterday as an example, the Louden outside Ibrox was absolutely rammed with folk unable to get in without queueing for an age so a lot of people were walking up the road to the wee shop and buying their buckfast, vodka etc. which I think would be worse than them being able to head into the stadium early doors and have something a little less lethal.

@Dons_1988may have differing reasons.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 hour ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

If they hadn’t been drinking alcohol then the bottles would still be full and more dangerous meaning that ….

Hang on I’ve made a mistake here somewhere

If they've been drinking alcohol, there's a fair chance the bottles will be at least part-way refilled..

[DukDukGoose]

Just now, AJF said:

I think offering the chance for fans to have a drink in the stadium would potentially limit the number of fans buying high percentage drinks and tanning them/smuggling them into the ground.

Yesterday as an example, the Louden outside Ibrox was absolutely rammed with folk unable to get in without queueing for an age so a lot of people were walking up the road to the wee shop and buying their buckfast, vodka etc. which I think would be worse than them being able to head into the stadium early doors and have something a little less lethal.

@Dons_1988may have differing reasons.

I think it's pretty fanciful to expect a significant reduction in binge drinking because you may be able to get one or two before or during the game.

[Squonk]

1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said:

nobody would do anything because nobody in Scottish football wants collective responsibility.

Collective responsibility already exists in Scottish football via punishments administered in UEFA's various competitions, so the principle of strict liability is already well established in Scotland.

Where it all falls down however, is in UEFA's derisory sanctions, such as the paltry fines regularly dished out to both Rangers and Celtic over the decades in respect of their fans' behaviour. It is difficult to reconcile, on the one hand, the boldness of UEFA in holding the clubs responsible for their fans' behaviour, with the utter futility of issuing meaningless fines that have no impact whatsoever on those fans' behaviour.

To be fair to UEFA, Rangers in particular have had sections of their ground closed in the past as a result of the singing of prohibited songs and other misbehaviour. Unfortunately, even stiffer punishments, such as stadium closures and/or points deductions, are going to be required before the moronic element who ruined yesterday's match have a word with themselves.

Last year, the Scottish Government warned that it would act if the clubs didn't put their house in order. If it becomes clear that the clubs and the SFA/SPFL are only paying lip service to addressing the issue, they might find the issue is taken out of their hands.  

[craigkillie]

The Scottish government "acting" and getting Scotland kicked out of the World Cup would be a cracking vote winner right enough.

[jamamafegan]

I think it's pretty fanciful to expect a significant reduction in binge drinking because you may be able to get one or two before or during the game.

Why? Loads of fans stay in the pubs as late as they possibly can so they can tan pints. I think if the option of having a pint at the game is there folk will be more inclined to actually go to the ground a bit earlier and have a pint there before kick-off. I think that also encourages a healthier culture of drinking at the football because it means you aren’t getting tanked up in pubs and downing drinks in a hurry to get to the ground. It also means you aren’t drinking spirits which I have no turn folk into mad, drunken messes.

Been to a few English premier league games and I have had the pleasure of having a half time pint with my pie. It’s great. The Australian A League and America MLS are even better - they allow you to sup your lager in the stand. Heaven forbid we let people sup lagers from plastic cups in this country - the stands would be bedlam I tell you, BEDLAM.

Maybe we aren’t ready for drinking in the stands, but there’s absolutely no reason why folk shouldn’t be able to get at least two pints at the game. I would welcome some sort of token system to get us started where 1 token = 1 pint and everyone is entitled to 2 tokens per match. Everyone except Granny Danger, he gets zero tokens.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 minute ago, AJF said:

I think offering the chance for fans to have a drink in the stadium would potentially limit the number of fans buying high percentage drinks and tanning them/smuggling them into the ground.

Yesterday as an example, the Louden outside Ibrox was absolutely rammed with folk unable to get in without queueing for an age so a lot of people were walking up the road to the wee shop and buying their buckfast, vodka etc. which I think would be worse than them being able to head into the stadium early doors and have something a little less lethal.

@Dons_1988may have differing reasons.

You've just described those "mythical" fans who need a drink to see them through a couple of hours. A normal response would surely have been "it's too busy, I'll not bother then. I can have a drink after the game, after all."

One of the main effects of alcohol consumption is a loss of inhibition. In the already emotionally charged state of an attendee at (any) football match, adding alcohol is not going to improve things.

I'm guessing most of the advocates of drinking at the game weren't around before the ban caused by the 1980 Final. Football, yes, but equally Scottish society needs to start behaving like grown-ups when it comes to the country's relationship with alcohol. When you're drinking the likes of Buckfast or other "cost-effective" products, the desire to "enjoy" a drink is shown up for the nonsensical justification of dependence which it undoubtedly is.

Yes, I've lost family members through alcohol misuse. No, I don't have a problem with people drinking, or even getting drunk when their behaviour doesn't impact others.

[DukDukGoose]

Just now, jamamafegan said:

 

Why? Loads of fans stay in the pubs as late as they possibly can so they can tan pints. I think if the option of having a pint at the game is there folk will be more inclined to actually go to the ground a bit earlier and have a pint there before kick-off. I think that also encourages a healthier culture of drinking at the football because it means you aren’t getting tanked up in pubs and downing drinks in a hurry to get to the ground. It also means you aren’t drinking spirits which I have no turn folk into mad, drunken messes.

Been to a few English premier league games and I have had the pleasure of having a half time pint with my pie. It’s great. The Australian A League and America MLS are even better - they allow you to sup your lager in the stand. Heaven forbid we let people sup lagers from plastic cups in this country - the stands would be bedlam I tell you, BEDLAM.

Maybe we aren’t ready for drinking in the stands, but there’s absolutely no reason why folk shouldn’t be able to get at least two pints at the game. I would welcome some sort of token system to get us started where 1 token = 1 pint and everyone is entitled to 2 tokens per match. Everyone except Granny Danger, he gets zero tokens.

 

A cultural issue, unfortunately.

You'd maybe get a few weeks of folk heading early, getting a pint at the ground. Then the queues etc will be "too long" and those guys will go back to tanning cheaper pints at the pub. 

Or folk will continue to try and tan as many as they can and then try and get a couple of pints at half time or whatever.