Time to ditch the booze ban

A welcome discussion about the reintroduction of alcohol at Scottish football grounds has finally been brought to the table.

I’m not bragging when I say that the legislation brought in to stop punters responsibly enjoying a drink or two at a game was brought into effect before I was born. I bring that up to highlight just how long it has been enforced, virtually unquestioned and unchallenged.

In 1980 the Scottish Cup final ended in disgrace, as two sets of fans took to the pitch in scenes described at the time as reminiscent of Apocalypse Now.

No-one wants to see behaviour like that return to blight our game.

But how long must regular football fans be treated like second class sports fans who can’t be trusted to enjoy a drink like other supporters?

Darts fans are able to enjoy a tipple or two (or three) at big competitions. Boxing fans often take more shots than some of the scrappers in the ring.

While trouble sometimes follows those sports, rugby fans are welcome to drink in the stands during matches and incidents of antisocial behaviour are virtually unheard of.

Not only that, but attendances have continued to rise at domestic and international games in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In fact, it’s getting to the point where even bagging a seat in 67,000-seater stadium Murrayfield is harder and harder.

Contrast that to the Hampden experience, with barely 20,000 turning up for Scotland’s recent friendly with Portugal and you may start to question what sport really is the country’s national game.

Alcohol clearly isn’t – and shouldn’t be – the only answer to getting fans back through the turnstiles at grounds across the country.

But there’s no debating that fans being trusted to have a few drinks in the ground – rather than staying in the pub to watch games where the taps never go dry – is stopping some fans from making it onto the terraces.

So the question is: why is this generation being punished for the behaviour of fans 40 years ago?

Many of whom may not even be around to see it still enforced to this day?

The vast majority of fans who would like a

Why is this generation being punished?

drink with their friends whilst watching their team on a cold winter night won’t immediately turn into chair-smashing, coin-slinging racist homophobes.

They’ll just sit a little more comfortably in their chair and, even better, put some money back into the club.

Instead of stocking up in pubs or supermarkets on the way to the match – behaviour which most fans know from experience is common practice – the clubs can profit from sales and regulate drinking by not selling to anyone who has clearly had too much.

So let’s drink to the health of Scottish football, preferably from inside the stadium.