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Original poster

Not selling alcohol at football is not "discrimination"

134 replies

KassandraOfSparta · 24/09/2026 09:03

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c933ky0nknxko

It's an anomaly. A throwback to the 80s. Inconsistent compared with other events.

The PM should know better than using "discrimination" in this context as it minimises the situations of people who truly ARE being discriminated against because of their sex, race, age or other protected characteristics.

Wanting to have a pint at the game is not a protected characteristic.

A football fan holds his pint of beer beneath a sign instructing that no alcohol should be taken beyond this point so he can continue to watch the match. The fan has his back to the camera and is wearing a dark-coloured jacket.

Burnham brands ban on football fans drinking alcohol in stands as 'discrimination'

The prime minister opposes the law - in place since 1985 - and believes there is a case to remove it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c933ky0nknxko

OP posts:
Newname26 · 24/09/2026 17:14

Backedoffhackedoff · 24/09/2026 15:22

I would counter that it’s not particularly the alcohol at all- before or during the game at least (the coke- probably- but already illegal)

I had a school friend who was a proper 90s football hooligan- At one point he was banned from all football stadiums and going abroad- but it was all about fighting rival gangs, not booze. Who can win a punch up smashed? They arranged the fights weeks before the match. It wasn’t random “he stepped on my foot” stuff.

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Yes football was used as a stage, for organised fights. Many of which were no where near the actual grounds.

Fightingdragonswithyou · 24/09/2026 17:20

Ablondiebutagoody · 24/09/2026 09:18

Just part of his working class, man of the people schtick. Anybody who spectates at football and other sports in the UK can see that football fans are the most thuggish, so should totally be treated differently than, say, fans at Wimbledon or Twickenham.

Oh stop it with the sweeping statement that we're all thugs.

I've been attending matches home and away for years and mixed with both sets of fans. Never any trouble, everyone chatting and getting on, have walked to grounds with opposition fans before and after games and found some genuinely lovely people.

LlynTegid · 24/09/2026 17:34

It is a form of discrimination. It may be justified. For me the observation of people leaving their seat frequently is a reason why I would be ok with the ban continuing.

Namexhangedforthis · 24/09/2026 17:35

Talk about fiddling whilst Rome burns :(
You would think the government had more pressing priorities to deal with at the moment.

Backedoffhackedoff · 24/09/2026 17:52

EscCtrl · 24/09/2026 15:53

How could they afford coke in the 90s? Must have been mostly asprin. Was he one of those "casuals" wearing Tacchini? The hoolies at my school in the 80s who claimed to be in the Head Hunters, or the ICF where skinheads with Harrington jackets and drainpipes. They did drink alcohol, but the craze was for sniffing glue. Such innocent times. I think the appearance of CCTV in grounds made offenders identifiable.. I think they went to lower league games for a bit of aggro, before they started getting cameras too.

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I didn’t say he was on coke, just that it’s likely to make people violent. Although there was plenty of Coke about at the time (late 90s if it makes difference- there was certainly no problem getting it delivered at uni in 2001)

it was all about the stone island late 90s

Backedoffhackedoff · 24/09/2026 17:53

Newname26 · 24/09/2026 17:14

Yes football was used as a stage, for organised fights. Many of which were no where near the actual grounds.

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Yes- in fact, rarely near the grounds as the police had that covered

EscCtrl · 25/09/2026 11:47

Backedoffhackedoff · 24/09/2026 17:52

I didn’t say he was on coke, just that it’s likely to make people violent. Although there was plenty of Coke about at the time (late 90s if it makes difference- there was certainly no problem getting it delivered at uni in 2001)

it was all about the stone island late 90s

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Sorry for the misunderstanding. I think we come from different times (though probably similar kinds of places). I had no idea cocaine could make people violent.
I'd slipped through what the Pet Shop Boys were later to call the "closing door" of upward social mobility when I first encountered cocaine users in the City, where it made the posh boys spout even more self-delusional bullshit than their usual base level megalomania. I was given some to try a couple of times but found it very boring, and I had the impression it was expensive, as in “Cocaine is God's way of telling you you have too much money.” Perhaps it became cheaper in the 90s if students were on it. Or the City boys were being ripped off, which would be a sweet justice for those guys who thought they knew the price of everything.
This has been a very interesting conversation that has brought back so many memories that I've not thought about in decades.

LBFseBrom · Today 00:21

I think it is a good rule and should stay.

However, Mr Burnham has only suggested changing it, I doubt it will happen.

Papster · Today 00:25

A few weeks of fighting after yobboes chuck beer in the air - which they will as it happens a lot at venues outside the ground - and they’ll change their minds

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