Never really got the drinking thing with football ok I will have a pint now and then but I enjoy watching the game without having to miss the action because I need a Piss or to join the que for a drink

End of the day I go to watch the game and what really gets me if you're sat down is people wanting to get up for a Piss!!!

UPTHEPORT wrote:Never really got the drinking thing with football ok I will have a pint now and then but I enjoy watching the game without having to miss the action because I need a Piss or to join the que for a drink

End of the day I go to watch the game and what really gets me if you're sat down is people wanting to get up for a Piss!!!

Agreed. and it always seems to be the one in the middle of the row. I have a particularly week bladder, but i ensure i have an aisle seat to avoid disturbing others. Still it's a big improvement from my younger days when standing on packed terraces and end up splashing around in stale urine by the time the game ends.

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:

UPTHEPORT wrote:Never really got the drinking thing with football ok I will have a pint now and then but I enjoy watching the game without having to miss the action because I need a Piss or to join the que for a drink

End of the day I go to watch the game and what really gets me if you're sat down is people wanting to get up for a Piss!!!

Agreed. and it always seems to be the one in the middle of the row. I have a particularly week bladder, but i ensure i have an aisle seat to avoid disturbing others. Still it's a big improvement from my younger days when standing on packed terraces and end up splashing around in stale urine by the time the game ends.

Spurs home last season someone pissed on mine and my nephew legs

I remember in about 1968 being near the front of the schoolboys' enclosure - yes, it was called that! - at the original Arms Park for a Wales game. There were lights overhanging the dog track and a glass bottle full of piss came flying over and shattered on one of them, showering everyone.

Today there'd be questions in parliament but even at age 12 or 13 it just seemed like an occupational hazard.

While I think being able to drink in sight of the pitch shouldn't be illegal/banned etc, at the same time I have absolutely no expectation that many people will be able to deal with it in a responsible or considerate way.

I'd absolutely expect the "rugby" problem of people up and down buying beers and going to the loos during the match, which is irritating as hell.

The inevitable beer bath whenever there's a goal would make the whole thing incredibly tedious and impact on my ability to go to a match and then out later without needing to go and get changed, which is a right pain too.

And that's without considering the impact of people drinking non-stop for that extra 90 minutes without a break.

Plastic bottles might reduce the problem, I guess.

So, great in theory, probably a bunch of hassle in practice.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Until a couple of years ago I would have backed this, but not since going to Wales v Fiji in the RU World Cup in Cardiff with a seat near the end of a row. As Old Cromwellian says, it's a constant stream of people walking in front of you to go for beer or for a pee.

Can''t see any justification for the ban in hospitality areas, though.

Hospitality is an interesting one, you're already flouting the segregation rules and now not having to close the curtains when the match is on and being able to drink in view of the pitch will just build resentment from those immediately in front if they can't do the same - after all if the drinking ban is about crowd control and the influence of alcohol on an individual's behaviour what difference does it make how much the ticket cost?

FWIW alcohol WAS a contributory factor in Hillsborough, not due to drunkenness (I'm not having that argument!) but the tendency for people to stay in the pub as late as possible before kick off and all turn up at the last minute. So more about human behaviour around football matches rather than alcohol per se. Whether selling alcohol in the ground throughout the match affects that or not remains to be seen - you can get drinks before kick off now, but people still hang out in the pub.

The WRU seem to be going in the opposite direction by trialling a dry zone at the autumn internationals

Amberexile wrote:The WRU seem to be going in the opposite direction by trialling a dry zone at the autumn internationals

...I don’t mind people in boxes having pints but anyone who has sat in the stands at an international will realise what a pissoff it is to be constantly interrupted during the game with people carrying beer carriers. Allow pint drinking in the foyer and seated people to only use hip flasks - problem solved and how it used to be before the proliferation of bars in the stadium.

I could have just about lived with getting soaked as our Great Escape goal went in.... I can understand that, that's celebration time!!
But someone sat drinking behind me, getting over excited as we equalise against Oldham in a bread n butter game, is not a great prospect.
I think things should stay as they are. You can finish your last beer in the concourse just before KO, watch the match, then have another one 45 mins later..... you don't need your beer in your seat with you.
If they ever allow alcohol at Loftus Road, I'm moving seats, cos this one woman who sits by me, appeals every bloody decision given against Rangers.... she'll stand up, hold her arms up, look around, and yell, "how's that not hand ball?!!".... her pissed will not be an appealing prospect. She stares straight bloody at me, as if I'm the ref!.... "come on, how's that not handball!!!"....