Alcohol back in the Stands

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Bad idea, I remember sitting on H block one game wondering if the scruffy drunk with a carrier bag full of Stella was going to puke down my back. Luckily he never returned for the second half probably lapsed into a coma in one of the bogs at half time.

I had heard that they were quite lavish these days.

 

[Bladesman]

I had heard that they were quite lavish these days.

The world lavish is doing some heavy lifting there.

 

[Bladesman101]

You don’t go to matches apparently

Do you think everyone on this forum goes to the games

 

[CrookesBlade]

You do know he convened an emergency Cobra committee meeting to discuss it

Last Labour leader to try this was John Smith.

 

[John Cutsbushes]

Agree with most that it’s a terrible idea. Fine in corporate areas where Burnham will sit because you won’t get some dickhead chucking his lager all over you.
This will also cause unnecessary arguments between fans in the stands.

Great idea, a long time coming
Sooner the better
South stand and John Street only though for me, not sure it would work on the Kop and dont let away fans have any

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

No, we just have an exceptionally unhealthy relationship with alcohol and a lack of self control or consideration for others.

Some Brits clearly have an exceptionally unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but the majority of us don't.
It's English football fans who seem to have the biggest problem. Look at English cricket and the Barmy Army. Pints per head far outstrip most football fans, and yet we sit mingled in with bitter rivals like the Aussies, exchanging vicious banter with each other at games, which very, very rarely escalates into violence. English Rugby is the same - generally attended by blokes who could knock seven bells out of the deranged cokeheads who seem to surround me on the kop, all mixed in with each other, drinking beer in two pint pots, and everybody generally behaving like grown ups.
It's something about football, and we see this the world over. I personally think that football invokes a level of tribalism that we just don't see in other sports. To be honest, that sense of collective belonging sucks me in to the game, but it's the biggest reason that I would maintain the alcohol ban in grounds, and not the fact that most of us in there are British.

 

[I should coco]

This thread is conclusive proof blades fans will moan about absolutely anything

It is also conclusive proof that United fans will moan about other United fans using a discussion forum to air their own views.

Please remind us which party line we should toe?

 

[I should coco]

You don’t go to matches apparently

Genuine question.

How many games has 'big' Everton fan Andy, been to in the last few years?

The standard Radio Sheffield phone-in response. from a part-time pig, of 'I couldn't get today', is not acceptable.

 

[AWetFlannel]

Genuine question.

How many games has 'big' Everton fan Andy, been to in the last few years?

Does it matter?

 

[Nick Jansky]

Some Brits clearly have an exceptionally unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but the majority of us don't.
It's English football fans who seem to have the biggest problem. Look at English cricket and the Barmy Army. Pints per head far outstrip most football fans, and yet we sit mingled in with bitter rivals like the Aussies, exchanging vicious banter with each other at games, which very, very rarely escalates into violence. English Rugby is the same - generally attended by blokes who could knock seven bells out of the deranged cokeheads who seem to surround me on the kop, all mixed in with each other, drinking beer in two pint pots, and everybody generally behaving like grown ups.
It's something about football, and we see this the world over. I personally think that football invokes a level of tribalism that we just don't see in other sports. To be honest, that sense of collective belonging sucks me in to the game, but it's the biggest reason that I would maintain the alcohol ban in grounds, and not the fact that most of us in there are British.

You make some good points. But I don’t think it’s just football. The UK sit 3rd in the OECD league table of binge drinkers per capita (binge drinking being the most harmful type by far) and we see the effects of it in the nation’s town centres (and A&E units) every weekend, as well as in the holiday resorts favoured by young Brits. And it’s responsible for a huge amount of violent crime. Add in the high rate of alcohol related deaths, and it would seem that the culture around drinking in this country is far from healthy.

 

[I should coco]

Does it matter?

Yes, if that quoted tweet is true.

If he is a regular match going fan, he will no doubt have been soaked in beer by dickhead fans of his own team.

If he is playing to the gallery, he won't have a scooby.

I'm surprised you had to ask, which leads me to assume that you are already Team Andy.

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

You make some good points. But I don’t think it’s just football. The UK sit 3rd in the OECD league table of binge drinkers per capita (binge drinking being the most harmful type by far) and we see the effects of it in the nation’s town centres (and A&E units) every weekend, as well as in the holiday resorts favoured by young Brits. And it’s responsible for a huge amount of violent crime. Add in the high rate of alcohol related deaths, and it would seem that the culture around drinking in this country is far from healthy.

The culture around drinking in this country is far from healthy for a significant minority of the UK population ( tightly linked at broad brush level to socio-economic geography), but the majority of the UK population maintains a healthy relationship with alcohol.
My response was in the context of the topic of the thread - ie availability of alcohol in sports stadiums during games. If you want to address binge drinking more widely, then I suggest that availability of alcohol in sports stadia wouldn't be a sensible starting point from which to prosecute that campaign.

 

[AWetFlannel]

Yes, if that quoted tweet is true.

If he is a regular match going fan, he will no doubt have been soaked in beer by dickhead fans of his own team.

If he is playing to the gallery, he won't have a scooby.

I'm surprised you had to ask, which leads me to assume that you are already Team Andy.

"People can carry drinks into football stadiums now."

Fact.

"They don't throw them at the pitch or each other."

I would agree given my experience, I assume it's rare. I've only been soaked by beer watching Blades once, in the lower tier at the Sty, thrown by a grunter when they scored.

"People are commenting who don't normally go to matches"

Likely to be true, plenty of political commentators are discussing it and most won't be match going fans.

None of that quote requires him to have ever been to a game in his life (though I saw him on MOTD recently at an Everton game). I'm a member of a political party that isn't Labour, so no, I'm not Team Andy.

 

[prescotblade]

Would think most clubs would go for it as an avenue to raise extra money.
Personally there are enough interruptions in a game with people needing to go to toilet etc without further interruptions.
Of course one of the solutions is by rebuilding stands, increasing space between rows of seated to reduce the need for people to have to stand up on these occasions.
Okay I’ll just continue standing up

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Take it with a pinch of salt, he's managed to convince the Southerners that Manchester is the North.

 

[Numpty's Dusty Ruts.]

A few years ago I'd have said yes please! But the level of twattery on bits of the kop now means I don't think it's a good idea. We have to accept that although most people are OK and could manage this fine, the tossers have increased in number (and they're not all young lads!!), and they'd behave like the idiots they are. This saddens me, but I prefer my beer in a glass glass, in comfort, and not in the form of a shower!!

 

[Champagneblade]

I can see the appeal. I like a beer, I very much enjoy watching (for example) the cricket with a beer in hand. I could imagine enjoying watching United with a beer in hand.

But it's a very different kettle of fish. The only time you really get (I fucking despise this concept) "limbs" at cricket is at the end of a match, when losing your last half pint doesn't really matter. At football, you'd get the dickhead instagram wankers launching their pints into the air when someone got a corner, or made a robust tackle. It would be a fucking mess. You also get silly cunts who launch themselves onto you from the row behind at the slightest provocation. Good fun for a last minute winner in a tight, important game. Less enjoyable when it's cos you've gone 2-0 up against Halifax in the League cup.

Overall, and I genuinely surprise myself saying this, as I thought it's something I'd have wanted, I'd probably be against it. I can (and do) have a few pints before and after a match, without the risk of some twat launching a pint of warm, crap lager over my head, or knocking my own pint of warm, crap, overpriced lager out of my hands when I've just paid the GDP of a small country for it.

Put you down as a no, then?

 

[GVBlade]

Would think most clubs would go for it as an avenue to raise extra money.
Personally there are enough interruptions in a game with people needing to go to toilet etc without further interruptions.
Of course one of the solutions is by rebuilding stands, increasing space between rows of seated to reduce the need for people to have to stand up on these occasions.
Okay I’ll just continue standing up

Lots of reasons not to allow beer back into the stands:
Yes, having to continually stand up to let people pass.
Has anyone mentioned the added litter! How many people are going to return their plastic cups?!
People chucking beer in the air when we score.
Has everyone forgotten the alcohol-fuelled hooliganism of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s?

 

[Nick Jansky]

The culture around drinking in this country is far from healthy for a significant minority of the UK population ( tightly linked at broad brush level to socio-economic geography), but the majority of the UK population maintains a healthy relationship with alcohol.
My response was in the context of the topic of the thread - ie availability of alcohol in sports stadiums during games. If you want to address binge drinking more widely, then I suggest that availability of alcohol in sports stadia wouldn't be a sensible starting point from which to prosecute that campaign.

Agreed.

 

[Pintor75]

When you walk in to the south stand concourse on entering the stand the place is full of groups hanging around drinking and blocking the way, if anything there needs to be a centre partition to allow people to their seats, bearing in mind we have a lot of older fans, without having to swerve and duck around these drinkers, can't begin to imagine the chaos if they get to drinking in the stands, people would never be still

 

[Esteban Cambiasso]

What people seem to be overlooking is that drinking in the stands reduces the risk of fans sobering up and realising how bad the football is. I watched a blades game sober once, about 15 years ago and I still have nightmares

Imagine trying watch Cannon, Choudhury, Ayew, Chong without being three sheets to the wind .... It would put you off football for life!!

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

Anyone, absolutely anyone, who wants to walk along my row, before DURING or after games, home or away, to go to the bar, come back from the bar, to go to the loo, to go home, or any other reason whatsoever, anyone, anytime, any reason is very, very welcome, and will get an alright mate smile & grunt from me.

That's the right thing to do. We're not fucking savages...

 

[Nick Jansky]

Anyone, absolutely anyone, who wants to walk along my row, before DURING or after games, home or away, to go to the bar, come back from the bar, to go to the loo, to go home, or any other reason whatsoever, anyone, anytime, any reason is very, very welcome, and will get an alright mate smile & grunt from me.

That's the right thing to do. We're not fucking savages...

You’re a better man than me. I just make it as difficult as I can for anyone to get past. They have to work for it.

 

[Bartleby]

Lots of reasons not to allow beer back into the stands:
Yes, having to continually stand up to let people pass.
Has anyone mentioned the added litter! How many people are going to return their plastic cups?!
People chucking beer in the air when we score.
Has everyone forgotten the alcohol-fuelled hooliganism of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s?

don't think that would be an issue - there's nowt stopping them getting totally tanked up now before hand and many do. £6 quid for a pint of low quality beer, plus the queues, would make it difficult for anyone to get pissed actually in the ground (unless they have a very low alcohol tolerance level). It's not just alcohol these days either.

I'm not in favour of it but just mainly from the throwing it about perspective cos I'm sure that would happen. No way I'm willing to suffer getting beer over me.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

don't think that would be an issue - there's nowt stopping them getting totally tanked up now before hand and many do. £6 quid for a pint of low quality beer, plus the queues, would make it difficult for anyone to get pissed actually in the ground (unless they have a very low alcohol tolerance level). It's not just alcohol these days either.

I'm not in favour of it but just mainly from the throwing it about perspective cos I'm sure that would happen. No way I'm willing to suffer getting beer over me.

I'm alcohol free these days so I just hope these hooligan types take that into account when targetting me.

 

[Bartleby]

I'm alcohol free these days so I just hope these hooligan types take that into account when targetting me.

I'm no fashionista but what's these jackets they wear these days with hoods and inbuilt goggles? Summat like that that might be the answer

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

I'm no fashionista but what's these jackets they wear these days with hoods and inbuilt goggles? Summat like that that might be the answer

That would only add to the humiliation.