Not selling alcohol at football is not "discrimination"

So do you want to change the rules for the men's game or not?

That’s the point i’m making!

People are discussing football fans as one homogeneous group who can’t be trusted to drink alcohol at a game. Clearly some groups can be trusted more than others!

Oddly even though I've played myself and watch it on TV I've never been to a women's game other than watching DDs play. Quite a different crowd though, much more of a family atmosphere and far more women. I would trust most women not to chuck beer over me though. Middle aged men my age and older, not so much.

Spectators at the women’s game manage to have that physical experience and hold a pint at the same time.
Perhaps we’re just not willing to waste our beer by chucking it about!

The law is most definitely not there to treat everyone equally. It is to provide sensible rules for different sets of circumstances.

Cricket ≠ Football

Of course they'll get to drink alcohol because football is no longer a working class game.
Meanwhile the poor working class, and the lumpenproletariat, who can't afford to drink in pubs, let alone pay the extortionate prices that the football stadia will undoubtedly charge, can't possibly be trusted to behave responsibly, and are increasingly criminalized (by PSPOs) for simply drinking alcohol in parks, cemeteries, or on beaches on sunny Summer afternoons. The new crime is simply drinking alcohol, not the existing arrestable offenses that are quite rightly prosecutable, but so often conflated with alcohol consumption: being drunk and disorderly, or causing nuisance, alarm, distress. How distressful it must be to the middle class pearl clutchers and NIMBYs who have re-defined what is socially acceptable.

Exactly, I don't want to be covered in flying beer every time there is a goal or missed chance, or controversial challenge, as people leap out of their seats and fling their arms in the air.

Me neither. Standing at a football match is a physical experience. You stomp, clap, sing loudly, cheer, gasp, wave your arms.

What bit of that experience is improved by having a plastic cup of lager in your hand at the same time?

FWIW I don't find the atmosphere threatening or aggressive, and I wouldn't go if it were. The word I would use is rambunctious. The experience would definitely not be improved by a bunch of men chucking their beer on you and each other as they react to something on the pitch. It's a delicate balance.

Yes I’ve been to many as I have said

the whole point in the law is supposed to treat everyone equally, not decide alcohol is ok at cricket not at football. Which is the point AB is making

Cricket matches usually take a bit longer than 45 minutes per innings. You're not comparing eggs with eggs.

What problem are you trying to solve by allowing alcohol into the stands at football matches?

Have you ever been to a football match?

At a cricket game I have often sat next to a person who is supporting the opposition. I have chatted to them, occasionally shared some of snacks with them, discussed the game with them and applauded when their side makes a good move. There is absolutely no need to keep the different sides apart.
When the football supporters can behave like this then I think alcohol can be served. Alcohol was banned at football matches for a reason. AB, the unelected prime minister is just wants to be popular.

risk assessment would be

“where alcohol is consumed there is a risk of aggression. To mitigate that aggression we will not allow fans to drink during the game”

unfair risk assessment is

“where alcohol is consumed at football matches there is a risk of aggression. At cricket matches this risk is irrelevant”

You’re missing the point. It’s not about managing without alcohol.

a cricket fan is legally allowed to have a beer in that 45 minutes. Whether they can manage without one is neither here nor there

This obsession with the spilled beer - how come they're not showering you with tea and soft drinks?

Beer at football is c. £8 a pint. They're not going to be routinely throwing it around 🤣

If they're allowed soft drinks then there's no reason why not alcohol. As long as no glass containers/outside drinks.
If anything banning it could encourage bingeing before matches.

I guess it's discrimination if you're allowed to drink in the stands for rugby, cricket, athletics, boxing or any other spectator sport. Assuming football fans are less responsible drinkers. But if it's based on risk assessment then they need to think about safety.

If you're comparing it with the opera or theatre I think it's plain to see the that the motivation and behavior of the crown would be somewhat different.

Utter woke nonsense

Of course it is about risk assessment.

Every club / stadium wants to make money. The cricket ground I go to takes thousands and thousands of pounds at the bar every match. There is very rarely any trouble at all, as cricket isn't tribal and doesn't attract those who get their kicks from that. So they have assessed it is worth the tiny risk that alcohol might fuel someone into causing trouble is worth it for them.
The football I go to is very tribal, and testosterone fueled. The risk assessment there is that adding more alcohol into that could 'light the touch paper' in an atmosphere than can be quite unpleasant, so it isn't worth it for those extra sales.

Plus, at the risk of continually repeating myself, the way the crowd leaps up at the hint of any exciting action in a football game (therefore spilling beer on everyone around them) is completely different from the applause given at wickets or boundaries at a cricket match.

I enjoy both games but it is like comparing apples and a hot dog (not even oranges).

It’s an odd thing for a PM to prioritise and speak about given everything else which is doubtless across his desk at the moment. And I think if I was motivated by addressing discrimination then there are worse injustices in the so I wouldn’t start with this either.

I'm not in favour of blanket bans, they generally affect too many others who behave responsibly. I would rather enjoy a game or a gig without the hassle of managing a flimsy plastic glass but if someone else wants to it's up to them.

Hardly. I don't have agree with him on everything.

All I can say is I’ve been to matches and cricket where alcohol is allowed match side and where it’s not - I know which one feels safer.

Rugby fans are also able to sit in mixed stands, whereas football grounds had to stop this decades ago. As a football fan I would say many of those who sit around me cannot be trusted to behave.

Risk management doesn’t have to mean a total ban. You weight up the likelihood and then put in place appropriate mitigation. This is a mitigation.

It's not like they have been singled out for no reason. Their behaviour is rancid. I really hate getting on the train to work on Saturday mornings only to hear them bellowing their unintelligible football 'songs' all over the carriage. It actually ruins my day, so the government can sanction them as much as they like for me.

Burnham has lost the plot. It hasn’t taken long.

I think he's foolish to wade into this sort of thing and if he was questioned directly, he should have simply said it's a matter for clubs and police to work on together. (Also, I agree with you OP, it's obviously not discrimination, but you can see he meant it in a colloquial sense to explain that bans should apply equally to all sporting events or none. Whether a PM should be that cavalier with language is another matter.)

I used to work at stadiums and big football grounds and I think it's sensible to ban alcohol in what can already a highly volatile environment. Whilst never personally threatened, this may have had something to do with the fact that there were many occasions where I had a giant, armed police officer standing next to me for the whole game, ready to step in if people became violent. The most dangerous time for everyone, I felt, was after the game had ended, as all the local stations were closed by police, meaning hundreds of people filtered out at the same time, trapped on the same main road, walking for an hour to find public transport. Fights were more likely to break out then.