Not selling alcohol at football is not "discrimination"

This isn't about risk assessment though - and if it were then alcohol would be banned everywhere because there will have been negative consequences related to alcohol at almost all sports events.

It's that one particular group (football fans) has been singled out amongst the larger group (sports fans) and subject to denial of services (access to alcohol in games) that the others have access to.

You are allowed to drink during football matches. Just away from the stands at half time only. The two halves are 45 to 50 minutes each. If you can't manage not to have a drink in that time you have a problem.

The men of the 1980s are in their 60s/70s/ dead now. You need to assess whether it genuinely would comeback with a different generation and fan base, not just assume.

The thing is, unlike other sports, at a lot of grounds it is 90-95% men. Great for me, no queue for the ladies. A proportion of those men will not behave if alcohol in the stand is brought into the mix. However good behaviour is now, relative to 40 years ago it's a delicate balance.

Agree..plus some dirty buggers pee in them 😡

I don't think it's a problem how it is now and nothing needs to change. I went to a local match on Saturday and had a pint at half time away from the stand, in the bar area.

People also often have a couple of pints before the match. And sometimes after as well.

Frankly I wouldn't want to be in the standing area with men having plastic cups of ale. Although it was civilised things could easily get out of hand and I don't want a return to the 1980s.

Football fans should learn to behave if they want access to their alcohol. Perhaps a leaflet campaign in the stands informing them of the standards expected of them in a civilised country would be in order, seeing as though its good enough for refugees who haven't even done anything wrong.

But the discrimination isnt based on the make up of the fans ( class, gender , race etc.) rather than the historical evidence that shows introducing alcohol into an already tribal atmosphere is problematic. That’s sensible risk management in my opinion.

Men getting consequences playing the unfair treatment card. Shocker

I should say that at big international cricket matches it gets pretty bad too. Especially with long breaks in play. I’ve even seen them close the bars because of problems.

likewise big racing events can be grim.

maybe to reduce the disparity we could have less alcohol at all sports?

As a season ticket holder (and sometime away match attendee) I would prefer they keep the ban. Away is the worst - I struggle anyway with the coked up fans, standing (I can’t see) and the general attitude so it would probably be the final straw for me. It’s not just the drunkenness but also the throwing pints around. Home matches not so bad. My team is a lower league and quite middle class one

Football is a game with a large working class fanbase.

Cricket and Rugby have a middle class fanbase.

The discrimination is that one group is allowed to drink during matches and the other is not.

This is due to the stereotypes of working class football fans that have been expressed in this thread - that they are thugs and loud and unpleasant.

That's a stereotype, that like all stereotypes may have some truth, for some of the group.

Discrimination is applying stereotypes of a group to the whole group in a negative way and denying them access to goods or services that a similar but different group has. (ie. Rugby/cricket/tennis fans)

In the end stadiums are private businesses so they should be able to decide what they want to do.

An overarching ban on one sport when others do not have this ban is unfair.

But it means fewer white working class males getting drunk during the match!

I realised this after drinking 4 pints during an England match in euro 2004 in Portugal 😂😂

Not recently. Alcohol sales have been banned anywhere in the ground at all levels of Spanish football since the 1990s. They do sell 0% beer.

I don't know that it's discrimination, but yabu to define discrimination so narrowly. It doesn't actually have to have a definition based only in the protected characteristics that happen to exist in UK law.

Who is being discriminated against?

Is it discrimination if a theatre prohibits glassware in the main theatre room?

I only attend Women's Rugby matches so can't comment on that, but I am a season ticket holder at one of the big County Grounds and go to Test Matches, ODIs etc when I can. I also attend football regularly.

The difference I see is that at the football grounds, there are an element of people that go simple for the tribal atmosphere and to antagonise the opposing fans. You simply don't get that at cricket (nor the little rugby I have seen). People are at the ground much longer for cricket, and beer is readily available. Some people drink ludicrous amounts but nobody gets abusive or violent. Nobody 'hates' anyone else in the ground. Fans of either side sit together and there is sometimes some banter, but never any aggression.
At the (professional) football matches I go to, there is always aggression and it feel tense. It is a completely different atmosphere. Adding more alcohol into that can never be a good thing.

Mainly though, as has been said earlier in the thread, 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.

Love this!

I regularly go to football and enjoy a pint or two in the ground before the match. As PP have said, alcohol is available at the ground already. I just can’t take it to my seat. Unless I watch the rugby from my seat on the weekends the ground is used by the local rugby team.
I’d rather then ban stay as it’s bad enough people getting up and down for food/ the toilet as it is. But I don’t like being treated differently (or being called a thug) just because I prefer a sport where only the keeper is allowed to handle the ball, rather than the whole team 🤷‍♀️

I think Andy Burnham needs to stop being photographed with pints , talking about pints or drinking pints. It will backfire on him spectacularly

Not the case at the National League ground I attend regularly.
We have a real mix of people.

Andy Burnham will say anything in the hope of getting the "he's such a great guy" response. He's just a populist, not someone we can rely on to make the grown-up choices required of a Prime Minister. I say this standing on the left of the political spectrum; I am completely turned off by his 'just one of the lads' schtick.

Pleased to see man of the people Andy focusing on the really key things. It’s a pure coincidence that the changes he proposes will benefit him.

If he really wants to worry about booze at the footie, how about he works with DV charities that see a huge spike in cases after we lose a big match.

I think it is probably fair enough to review the matter. Attending football matches is very different now from when this was introduced. I'm not sure that stirring up even more class-based grievance over the issue is necessary or desirable though.

As someone who goes to rugby matches (Come On You Chiefs!) I would be quite happy to see drinking alcohol in the stand banned at rugby matches too tbh, although I wouldn't say so out loud.