Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 22 February 2013

22 February 2013

Mardy Diary writes: Followers of the Cod Almighty Twitter account may have picked up on a small discussion recently about the Against Modern Football movement and the subsequent backlash against that. Against Against Modern Football, if you like. I'm not really sure where I stand – partly because there are aspects of modern football that are good as well as aspects of, er, 'past' football that are not so good. But also because I've not actually been arsed to read any literature produced by AMF so I haven't really an idea of what they're against (specifically).

It did set me thinking of other modern movements in football though, and then about those that aim to reverse current trends or undo laws that were passed that people feel were of detriment to the game. The most obvious one here is of course the Safe Standing Campaign, which argues that safe standing is achievable in modern football.

However, my mind isn't really one to dwell on things, and so it moved on to thinking about beer. That's when I had a thought: one 'right' taken away from us in the past was the right to drink a beer while sitting in a football ground watching a match. It was 1985 when the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol) Act first passed into law and stated that you couldn't drink alcohol at any sporting event that began with 'f' and ended with 'ootball'.

Well, almost. You can, of course, drink beer at a football ground – just not in sight of the pitch during a match day. And this only applies to football above a certain level. So if you're a fan of a team that plays below Conference North/South level you can indeed sup and watch the game. Unless it's an FA Cup match, in which case... you can't. Which meant that for a Buxton v Blyth Spartans league match I attended this season I was able to drink Guinness while watching the match, but for Town's FA Trophy replay at the same ground I had to crane my neck to see out of the door for the beginning of the second half while I finished my half-time pint. Bizarre.

It's strange that the law is still in place really, given the level of commercialism in the game these days, and the huge potential to make even more money from fans (especially if the beer is at Wembley prices). It's also strange that there doesn't appear to have been any great concerted effort by football supporters to overturn it. Sure, there have been the odd murmurings here and there, and I'm sure it's part of the Football Supporters' Federation larger manifesto on the game. But there doesn't appear to have been anything more co-ordinated and focused on just this law.

The argument against changing the law will no doubt be based on the claim that it will lead to more 'loutish' behaviour at football matches. But the law needn't be changed that means those found to be drunk and disorderly at a match can be ejected. The 'loutish' argument also doesn't seem to carry into other sports such as rugby, cricket, horse racing and the like. In fact the whole differentiation between rugby and football essentially comes down to class control: the middle classes at rugby can handle their drink, but the plebs at football can't. And yes, I realise that rugby is a working-class sport in Wales and parts of northern England, but I'm not the one making the distinction here.

It also rather steps aside the fact that the 'lager lout' tag was first applied to the moneyed middle classes flashing their cash around in pubs in the home counties. These weren't football fans and they weren't at a football match. They probably preferred rugby. Or polo.

So given that a football fan can drink up to the start of the game, take their seat (late), sit there for maybe 25 minutes then get up before half-time, go to the back of the stand, cram another two or three pints in and return to their seat (late) for the second half – is allowing them to drink in their seat really going to make much of a difference to their alcohol intake?

Only this season I had a bloke near me at the back of the Pontoon who'd had one or two sherries before the game. He spent most of the first half shouting odd phrases such as "kick 'em in the compound" before sloping off just before half time to top himself up ready for the second half. Had he been allowed to drink in his seat, he may well have drunk himself unconscious in the first 45 minutes, giving the rest of us a break for the rest of the match. That aside, despite the fact that he was clearly hammered, he was still mostly-harmless.

So I say it's about time football fans came together and demanded that we stopped being treated like children. We are adults: we should be able to drink while watching the game. God knows it would help in some matches.

The only problem I can see is thinking up a snappy title. The 'Campaign to be able to drink beer in my seat while watching the footy' doesn't have much of a ring to it. Anyone got a better name?

Have a good weekend. And a pint.