{"id":780436,"date":"2026-09-23T23:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780436\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T23:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:12:09","slug":"andy-burnham-signals-he-may-lift-ban-on-alcohol-in-football-stands-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780436\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham signals he may lift ban on alcohol in football stands | Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham has signalled he may lift the ban on drinking alcohol in the stands at football matches, suggesting it is \u201cunfair\u201d for fans to be singled out when it is permitted for other sports.<\/p>\n

The prime minister, a committed Everton fan<\/a> who still attends matches, said there was a case for trialling an end to the ban to bring football in line with rugby and cricket.<\/p>\n

The move was welcomed by the Football Supporters\u2019 Association and the English Football League, but police warned it would be \u201cincredibly rash\u201d to make changes without considering their impact on safety.<\/p>\n

Burnham has long opposed the ban, saying it is discriminatory and out of date, harking back to an era when football violence was fuelled by drinking within view of the pitch.<\/p>\n

Asked by reporters on the plane to New York<\/a> about lifting a ban, Burnham said: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair for football fans to be singled out in that way and I made that point. I think that legislation dates to an era where football was very different. And I do believe there is a case to remove that discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different ways it could be done, perhaps on a trial basis. But I\u2019m not going to back away from what\u2019s been a long-held view of mine. I don\u2019t see how it can be fair that some supporters of one sport can be treated differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol<\/a> etc) Act 1985 prohibits drinking in sight of the pitch in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

The fan-led review of football governance in 2021 called for the ban to be re-examined and suggested piloting the sale of alcohol within sight of the pitch in lower-tier English football.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the UK Football Policing Unit, which coordinates football policing policy in England and Wales, said: \u201cThe UKFPU would welcome a meeting with the prime minister to discuss his views and explain the challenges these proposed changes would bring to policing and the safety of staff and fans at football games.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther sports simply don\u2019t see the violence and criminal behaviour from their supporters that football does, albeit a minority, with alcohol often playing a significant part in violent and disorderly behaviour. It would be irresponsible to fuel this by allowing greater alcohol consumption during games.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing a number of football-related tragedies, changes in legislation were implemented after the Taylor report [of 1990 into the causes of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster] for good reason and we are currently in the longest ever period without a significant football-related disaster. It would be incredibly rash to make fundamental changes without a full examination of the evidence and meaningful consultation with police practitioners who have the expertise in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the English Football League said it would be \u201creceptive\u201d to a review of legislation that \u201cwas introduced more than 40 years ago and has not kept pace with significant developments in stadium management, safety and stewarding\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tom Greatrex, the chair of the Football Supporters\u2019 Association, said: \u201cThe FSA has always argued that it\u2019s unfair to criminalise football fans for having a pint while watching the match \u2013 especially since you can sit in the same seat drinking alcohol whilst watching an Oasis gig or rugby league. We welcome the prime minister\u2019s comments and totally agree that the legislation is outdated and deserves to be reviewed. We look forward to being part of that consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters at Women\u2019s Super League and WSL2 matches have been permitted to drink alcohol in view of the pitch since the start of this season, after a successful 18-month trial period led to a change to the WSL\u2019s regulations this summer, allowing clubs \u2013 but not obliging them \u2013 to give fans that option.<\/p>\n

Since that rule change, 25 of the 26 clubs across the two divisions of English women\u2019s football have decided to take up the option at all of their home games. The only exception is Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s home matches at Crawley\u2019s Broadfield Stadium, but Brighton have permitted fans to drink in view of the pitch when the team play their home matches at the Amex Stadium, such as last Sunday when they hosted Aston Villa. Women\u2019s matches have typically seen fewer incidents of crowd trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham has signalled he may lift the ban on drinking alcohol in the stands at football matches,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}