England fans and booze is not always a good mix so perhaps we should toast the hard-to-find £11 pint
WHEN a section of the England support gets on cheap strong beer in sunny climes from dawn until kick-off, a lot of people wring their hands and say how terrible it is.
When cheap strong beer is NOT available to the England support from dawn until kickoff, a lot of people wring their hands and say how terrible it is.
The irony of the scarcity and the price of a pint in Qatar becoming a major talking point of World Cup 2022 – at least back home – is magnificent.
For those of us who have travelled with England for many years, it is hard not to break into a wry smile.
At Euro 2000, for one of many examples, England played twice in Charleroi, a lovely, small city in the Walloon province of Hainaut.
The local hostelries flung open their doors at first light and Belgian brew flowed in torrents at reasonable prices.
Twice, England fans pretty much razed Charleroi to the ground.
Let’s face it, it is hard to argue that alcohol has not been integral to so many shameful moments at sporting events. We might get indignant about the fact that it is hard and costly for England fans to get a cold beer here in Qatar but it was not hard in London on July 11, 2021 and look what happened at the Euro final. P***ed-up rioters ran amok. It is a broader, British societal issue, of course, but it is, so often, brought into sharp focus by sport.
Local authorities and Cheltenham Racecourse have begun an initiative to encourage better behaviour from punters leaving the course.
Why? Because local residents are fed up with wasted Festival goers urinating, defecating and throwing up in their gardens after racing.
And while recreational drug use has also been a contributory factor, there is no doubt the fights that have scarred race meetings at places such as Ascot, Sandown and York in recent years have been alcohol-fuelled.
This time last year, six-yearold Joey Delaney was, according to mum Sophie, “super-excited” to be attending his first big rugby match – Wales v Australia at the Principality Stadium.
Unfortunately for the superexcited boy, he was sat in front of a super-inebriated man who could barely sit straight and who could not speak to apologise after vomiting over Joey.
And that is not an isolated incident at the home of Welsh rugby.
Of course, there are multitudes – an overwhelming majority – who enjoy a drink and behave themselves at sporting events.
And the ideal scenario for any World Cup would be for alcoholic beverages to be readily available for those who fancy one and will not turn into a hooligan.
Preferably, those beverages would be reasonably priced but it is also worth pointing out that £11 for a beer at a major sporting event is pretty much par for most courses nowadays – try going to a big NFL/ MLB/NBA game in the States.
The culture of Qatar, though, was never going to make that likely to happen and everyone knew that from day one.
So while there are many, many compelling reasons why this World Cup should not be taking place here, the scarcity and price of a pint is not one of them.