Football fans are used to facing severe restrictions around drinking at the match - something fans of no other sport have to deal with. Football Supporters Federation caseworker Amanda Jacks looks at the issue... 

For many supporters, having a pre and post-match drink is an integral part of going to football.  For advertisers, retailers and sponsors, the relationship between fans and alcohol is a match made in heaven, indeed, the FA Cup was sponsored by Budweiser from 2011 until 2014.  

Of course the same applies to other sports too, 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 and the time is right to ask what this legislation actually achieves beyond criminalising fans.

There is absolutely no evidence or research to suggest that these laws have any bearing whatsoever on preventing or curtailing football related disorder in and around our stadiums.

Academic research that has found that alcohol restrictions can often cause more problems than they are supposed to prevent.  On the Lash by Geoff Pearson and Arianna Sale concludes that alcohol controls need to be revisited and other methods looked at to reduce the problem of football disorder.

On occasion train companies will ban alcohol on trains carrying predominantly football supporters.  If you are found in breach of that ban you run the risk of arrest.

Not content with relying on it being illegal to drink on a minibus or coach, the Traffic Commissioner guidelines say that if you want to have a drink at a pub on your way to a game, you must notify the police of this and only drink alcohol if it accompanies a substantial meal! I mean, when else can you be patronised into the middle of next season unless you’re a football fan?

Last season, nearly 450 supporters were arrested for alcohol related offences. We don’t know how many of these led to conviction but we do know that convicted fans also run the risk of being issued with a  Football Banning Order.

Police already have powers at their disposal to deal with alcohol misuse - such as drink driving, or being drunk and disorderly - so don't need to rely on football-specific alcohol laws.

We are of course, the Football Supporters’ Federation and not the Police Federation but when it’s well known the police (indeed the entire criminal justice system) are struggling under Governmental cuts, it really is frightening to think of the man hours taken up in processing these arrested fans and, of course, the cost to the taxpayer. 

Surely these police man hours would be better spent doing something else, dare I suggest catching real criminals and not dealing with people criminalised ‘just because’ they’re following football and not rugby, cricket, horse racing or on a stag/hen weekend, attending a concert etc.

If people drink to excess or are disorderly at any of these events, they can still be ejected by stewards and the police can still arrest them under various other laws.  The playing field needs to be levelled and it’s time to abolish alcohol-related legislation specific to football and for the games’ fans to be viewed, through the eyes of the law, as equal to supporters of other sports and leisure activities.Alcohol restrictions: football fans must be seen as equals

Watching Football Is Not A Crime! is part of the FSF's ongoing drive to monitor the police in their dealings with football fans and work with them to ensure that all fans are treated fairly and within the law. You can contact FSF Caseworker Amanda Jacks via:
Twitter: @fsf_faircop
Email: faircop@fsf.org.uk

Photo: Action Images

ItchenNorth added 23:55 - Oct 11 It's bad enough at present when fans can't sit or stand in their seat foran entire 45 minutes at a time let alone if the bars were open during the entire game ! Up and down up and down, and I like standing at football over sitting and sinking a few drinks on march days. I think fans should though be allowed to buy alcohol and bring it to their seat, but bars open when plays on; no.

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Consigliere added 09:32 - Oct 12 The comparison with rugby supporters is often made and it is true that its very patronising not to be able to have a beer on the terraces at one game when it is positively encouraged at another. At many premier league rugby grounds for example, a bloke comes out onto the terraces with a beer dispenser strapped on his back, and at Twickenham there is a big sign up at the bar which warns that you are only allowed to take four pints PER PERSON into the arena. The key difference is in the behaviour of the supporters - both sides fans are all in together and whilst there are heroic levels of banter, fighting amongst the fans is almost unknown. I don't think this is just down to "middle class boys with their jolly japes" either. Whilst this is probably true of clubs like Harlequins it certainly isn't of the northern clubs, or the fans of the home nations especially the Welsh. That isn't a bash at working class supporters in football either - Chelsea has plenty of very well-off fans and plenty of yobs amongst them, indeed some of the worst behaviour I have seen from away supporters has been from that lot. I think that much of this comes down to money and the way that the Premier League treats the supporters. We are little more than unpaid extras in a theatre of made for TV shows to be sold abroad for the highest price. We are herded this way and that like cattle and treated like naughty children, whilst being charged a great deal of money for the privilege. Tribalism of the worst kind is subtly encouraged by the clubs. Is it any surprise that some of our low-information brethren feel thoroughly cheated and respond like children, including some of the wealthy supporters (see above) with a massive sense of entitlement and not much sense of responsibility? Football supporters deserve to be treated like responsible adults, but generally they are not. As I have mentioned before, the Arsenal stadium at the Emirates is a possible exception (though of course still very expensive for the season ticket holding supporter) and points in the right direction with well-trained and polite staff, bars that actually serve food and drink within a reasonable period of time, comfortable seats (even for away supporters) and toilets that aren't disgusting. Net result is that its a pleasant place to visit and I suspect that they wouldn't suffer crowd trouble just because the supporters could take a beer into the arena. The Premier League needs to take a long hard look at itself. This is the entertainment business, but any business model that runs on the basis of rich foreigners losing piles of money so they can pay millionaire sportsmen (and their sleazy agents) to amuse and abuse the public feels like the last days of the Roman empire.

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highfield49 added 10:02 - Oct 12 I'd like to agree with you and the FSF Nick but any pretence that the other sports that you have mentioned can be compared to the hooligan football supporter just don't work. You and I, and many others, remember the 60s when tribal behaviour reached the football terraces and the reality is that it hasn't gone away. Scenes from the recent Euro finals prove the point. The difficulties at West Ham have also shown the continuing need for policing and supporter segregation. Where I do agree with you is that the majority are condemned by the few but in all honesty nobody who behaves rationally and avoids getting caught up in the worst aspects of aggressive and hostile behaviour is going to get arrested for having a drink before, during or after the match.

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SonicBoom added 10:04 - Oct 12 As usual the majority are denied because there is a minority that misbehave. If you allowed beer into say the chapel would there suddenly be mass rioting? Course not. If you let beer into the Northam block 42 or 43, or the Itchen block 1 and 2 there are a few idiots that would lob it over the fence.
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GeordieSaint added 12:10 - Oct 12 I couldn't really follow this, far too pissed.
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SaintNick added 13:20 - Oct 13 Highfield, I can see your point, but the trouble in the Euros was because of the antics of the Russians who did not drink at all, preferring to stay sober and fit and ready to fight. The West Ham situation is a rarity these days, most grounds are fine to go to, those that want to fight know who they want to fight and rarely pick on non combatants so to speak, the problem seems to be an element of West Hams support who haven't been to the games for a while and still think its 1984

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