Britain\u2019s top football police officer has told MPs that families inside stadiums could be soaked in \u201clager shampoos\u201d whenever a goal goes in if the alcohol ban is lifted.<\/p>\n
Chief constable Mark Roberts of Cheshire police also warned that the growing clamour to end the 36-year prohibition on drinking in view of the pitch was a \u201cdangerous argument\u201d that would lead to more violence.<\/p>\n
Giving evidence at the digital, culture, media and sport select committee, Roberts dismissed a suggestion that changing the law would be better for police, because fans would not binge drink before games and arrive late, or for clubs, who could raise extra revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t accept the argument at all,\u201d he replied. \u201cPeople would still drink to excess outside, but then arrive and carry on drinking. And so you\u2019d afford them 90 minutes extra time to drink. And more alcohol causes more problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cYou\u2019d have that many problems, they\u2019d have to pay for more police in stadiums to deal with the issues. You then have the issues of people throwing beer in the air, which you see all the time at Boxpark and the like. So if you\u2019re there with the family, and every time a goal goes you get a lager shampoo, it doesn\u2019t make it conducive to going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drinking in sight of the pitch has been banned in England\u2019s top five tiers since 1985, although it is allowed at cricket, both rugby codes, horse racing and darts. Last year the MP Tracey Crouch called for a pilot in the fourth and fifth tiers as part of her fan-led review of football governance.<\/p>\n
But Roberts made clear he opposed the suggestion, pointing out that people spilling beer on other fans would cause more trouble \u2013 and that there was already \u201cquite serious violence\u201d even in the lower leagues, where there is little security, police or CCTV. \u201cSo I just think this is a really dangerous argument to suggest that we should be bringing alcohol back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Peter Houghton of the Football Safety Officers Association warned of the growth of cocaine use among spectators across British sport. \u201cIn all aspects of sport there has been an increase in cocaine use,\u201d he told MPs. \u201cA good friend of mine in Cambridge United said when he checked the gents toilets after the match it looked like a laundrette, there was that much powder everywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cViolence at football has always been synonymous with alcohol. But it\u2019s becoming abundantly clear that it\u2019s not just a football issue. It\u2019s widespread throughout different sports. And you\u2019re not just pointing the finger at alcohol users, but drug users too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DCMS committee hears chief constable Mark Roberts\u2019 warningFootball fans banned from drinking in view of pitch for 36 yearsBritain\u2019s top football police officer has told MPs that families inside stadiums could be soaked in \u201clager sha\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-64.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautybyneature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}