MOST people like a drink after a big sporting occasion.Some are to celebrate, but many, like mine always tend to be, are to drown our sorrows after a defeat.
Believe me, I’ve had a few of them over the years. It is part of the joy of being a sports fan after all.
But sports’ relationship with alcohol is becoming increasingly scrutinised with many now calling for a ban on all alcohol advertising in sport.
Others are also calling for the alcohol ban to be lifted from football grounds.If rugby fans can do it, the argument goes, then so can football fans.
Both arguments are valid but also fraught with danger. Alcohol was banned at football grounds for a very good reason and those reasons still exist today.
There has been a rise in incidents recently at Scottish football grounds and that is without alcohol being allowed. However, the counter argument goes that drink would still be banned at games that are deemed high risk.
But what games would be deemed a high risk and by whom? Everyone would automatically point the fingers at Old Firm games, Edinburgh derbies and games involving all four against Aberdeen (although not all four at once obviously).
So what games would be left to have a drinks ban - after all, local rivalries are just as intense in Fife, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire as they are in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Dundee while Aberdeen fans antipathy to anything from the central belt is well known.
Realistically, less than half of games on a given weekend would be deemed safe enough so what then is the point?
Banning alcohol advertising, however, could be more damaging. At a time when Scottish football is struggling to find sponsors, so taking another revenue stream out of the equation could be very foolish indeed.
I am sceptical that there is a link between alcohol advertising and Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol so banning advertising will not make us drink less but will certainly make less money available for cash-strapped clubs which could then go bust.
What do fans then do when they no longer have a club to support? Well many will head to the pub to watch live football - and probably put a bet on too - the exact opposite of what was meant to happen.
Keeping fans in a drink free stadium for a couple of hours watching a game is infinitely more sensible than having thousands of extra bodies spending longer in the pub.
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