Out! No more champers corks on field at Lord’s
MCC members ordered to desist from tradition of letting fly with the fizz, to avoid posing a danger to the fielders
‘A big cheer goes up when a cork lands on the outfield, but the chances of hitting a player are pretty slim’
THE POPPING of champagne corks in the stands at Lord’s – with the aim of landing them on the outfield – has been enjoyed by spectators for many a year.
But the carousing will have to be more subdued from now on, after the Marylebone Cricket Club warned members to end the practice, for fear that the flying corks could pose a “hazard” to the fielders.
And spectators have been told that if they fail to comply with the ban, they could be prohibited from bringing alcohol to the ground altogether.
Officials from the MCC issued the edict, effectively banning any popping of corks in the stands, after visiting teams complained that their boundary fielders were being distracted by the sound of them landing nearby. The MCC published the warning in a newsletter emailed to members before tomorrow’s one-day international between England and Pakistan.
It stated: “In recent times the practice of some members and other spectators opening bottles of champagne in such a way as to allow corks to be projected on to the outfield has been criticised. Any items which are aimed at the playing area may cause a potential hazard to fieldsmen, and this point has been made formally to the club.”
The warning continued: “Lord’s is now the only ground into which members and ticket holders are allowed to bring alcohol, and in order for this arrangement to continue it is important that all members, their guests and other spectators refrain from the practice that has been described.”
Spectators at Lord’s are permitted to bring in one bottle of wine or champagne per person. The edict has been greeted with some disdain among the MCC’s 18,000 members, whose predecessors founded the club in 1787, the year that Thomas Lord laid out the ground in St John’s Wood.
Peter Woodman, a retired writer, said: “I’ve been a member for 35 years and I’ve seen a few champagne corks cracked in my time. Usually a big cheer goes up when a cork lands on the outfield, but the chances of them hitting any player are pretty slim.”
Another member said: “I did hear there was a lot of it going on at the last Test earlier this month, when England beat Pakistan.
“It used to be the odd one that got a cheer if it landed from the top tier of a stand to the bottom. Landing it on the outfield where a player can stand on it is a whole different matter, or maybe the gentlemen on the lower tier have got fed up with it raining cork and ruining their panamas.”
A spokesman for the MCC, which owns Lord’s, said: “The problem of flying corks distracting fielders and posing a potential hazard has been mentioned by visiting teams and so we are politely asking members to desist from popping champagne bottles in the stands in the direction of the outfield.”