The UK’s football policing lead says it is “bizarre” that the fan-led review has called for a pilot allowing the consumption of alcohol in sight of the pitch just months after the disorder at the Euro 2020 final.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts of Cheshire Police also accused the review panel of failing to consult with the police before making its recommendations.
The review has called for a small-scale pilot in the Vanarama National League and Sky Bet League Two and for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Home Office and the UK Football Policing Unit to work closely together on the design, implementation and assessment of the pilot.
However, Chief Constable Roberts said in a statement: “While this is obviously a fan-led review, it is making proposals to fundamentally change aspects of football governance, and it perhaps says a lot that the police haven’t been consulted or given notice of its recommendations.
“There is a clear link between alcohol and poor behaviour, not just in football but broader society, and increasingly we are seeing growing concerns in rugby and cricket about the negative impact on fans’ experiences.
“At a time when we are seeing worrying instances of violence at football at all levels, the timing of this proposal seems quite bizarre and if it were to lead to changes in the current legislative approach it would be an irresponsible act that would lead to more violence in our stadiums.”
England have been ordered to play their next UEFA competition match behind closed doors after the chaos surrounding the Euro 2020 final in July, with a further match suspended.
The Football Association commissioned an inquiry into what happened, which is being led by Baroness Casey of Blackstock.
The fan-led review highlighted the financial benefits to clubs of being able to sell alcohol this way, describing it as “perverse” that Dulwich Hamlet lost revenue as a result of their promotion from National League South – a level where alcohol can be consumed in sight of the pitch – to the National League.
The review called for The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 to at least be reviewed to “consider if it remains fit for purpose”.
It added: “The legislation is nearly 40 years old, has never been reviewed and the commercial benefits to lower league clubs could go some way to helping ensure their sustainability for their communities.”
Crouch was asked on Wednesday about Chief Constable Roberts’ previous claim that such a move would fuel irresponsible behaviour at matches.
She told the PA news agency: “I think he misunderstood what the recommendation was to be perfectly honest.
“I think he thought that this was a recommendation for trialling out the sale of alcohol throughout the entire football pyramid, and it’s not.
“This is a recommendation entirely driven on financial sustainability at the lowest parts of the football pyramid.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article