As part of a recent trial, football fans will be permitted to consume alcohol while watching games of two second-tier women's clubs in England.
However, from the Premier League to the fifth-tier National League, English men's football fans are prohibited from drinking alcohol in the stands.
Although government regulation initially only applied to men's football, the rule has been in force for 39 years and has recently been extended to women's football.
Football fans are currently prohibited from consuming alcohol while watching games in the second-tier Women's Championship and the top-tier Women's Super League (WSL).
According to Nikki Doucet, the head of the Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), the trial will happen during the current Women's Championship season in 2024–25.
Doucet has emphasised the distinctions between supporters of men's and women's football since the WPLL separated from the Football Association (FA) in August, seizing control of the top two divisions of women's football in England.
Doucet said: “We are testing [the trial at] a couple of teams in the Championship this season and we will see what we will learn from that. I think the behaviour of our fan base [in women’s football] is different. It is about giving our fans choices while maintaining safety and being responsible.”
The two clubs that will participate in the trials have not yet been decided.
In an effort to prevent hooliganism, alcohol consumption was prohibited in stadium sections including stands overlooking the pitch at English football stadiums in 1985. The Margaret Thatcher-led Conservative government approved the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act, which made drinking during a game illegal.
It also made drunken entry to a game illegal, which includes drinking alcohol within view of the pitch from 15 minutes before the start of the match to 15 minutes after the end of the match, and consuming alcohol in specific coaches, trains, and cars while attending a football game.
