Football was always non-negotiable in my family. My dad, raised in Battersea, is a life-long Chelsea supporter, and for the first five years of my life I spent each game in the Stamford Bridge creche, alongside other CFC orphans.
When I was around seven, my parents deemed it safe enough for me to be in the stands. I loved the energy, the excitement, the celebrations; but the walk to the exit, as a small girl at only waist-height of most other rowdy supporters, filled me with dread – especially on the days we lost.
At 30, the tension that emanates from the streets after a bad day at the Bridge can still fill me with dread. Violence isn’t out of the question.
So, as much as I’d like to agree with Andy Burnham’s support for a lift of the alcohol ban in football stands, it’s an idea that leaves me more conflicted. It feels like throwing gasoline on burning embers.
Notably, alcohol has been allowed in the stands of women’s games since the start of this season, with a successful 18-month trial period taking place during the last. But the differing factor here is the atmosphere.
At Women’s Super League matches, girls in plaits shout encouragement – rather than abuse – when a player misses a shot or fumbles a pass. I have never, at any of those games, heard racism, sexism, homophobia – or the word c***. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the men’s fixtures.
During the 2025-2026 season the highest number of incidents (1,644) were reported at matches in England and Wales since the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) started collecting the data in 2017, with police calling for help from clubs to handle the scope of match day violence.
The domestic violence that can accompany men’s football is well documented. Each England tournament, Women’s Aid run their “He’s coming home” campaign, which reminds the nation that abuse cases increase by 38 per cent after a loss and 26 per cent for a win or draw.
Football doesn’t cause domestic abuse – but the danger is allowing perpetrators to turn a bad result into an excuse. Alcohol, in turn, adds another element of risk and exacerbation where abuse is already present.
As expected, a controlled lab experiment conducted in 2024 found that as participants’ blood alcohol levels increased, so did their aggressiveness. This was most common among those who normally drank heavily.
Legislation to ban alcohol was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1985. It came after various incidents including the FA Cup quarter-final clash between Luton and Millwall and the Birmingham v Leeds match in May that year, which resulted in pitch invasions, 125 arrests, 80 spectator injuries, and one death; a 15-year-old boy.
Burnham, like the chairman of the Football Supporters Association (FSA), Tom Greatrex, has said it’s “unfair” to discriminate against football fans for drinking alcohol while it’s allowed in the stands during other sports.
But, as the UKFPU has pointed out, no other sport sees the violence and criminal behaviour from their supporters that football does – even if severity has drastically improved since the hooliganism of the Eighties.
Having a pint (or three) pre and post match is fun. As even those who aren’t supporters of a club will have seen while supporting England this summer, the pub atmosphere can be cheerful and warm. Still, those 45 minutes of each half of the game where alcohol isn’t present gives over excited fans in the stands a brief break from booze that has seemingly helped to stop things getting completely out of control.
The risk to women, children - and men - of going backwards, is huge. Stadiums are a hot house of emotions – crammed with tens of thousands of people – waiting for the final push. Change would need to be careful and controlled; a two drink maximum per ticket holder, for example.
But surely the risk here, to those in the ground and at home, does not outweigh the benefit in any meaningful way. Burnham might be a football fan, but he is first a prime minister who has promised to help women to live free from abuse. Allowing alcohol back into football stands amid the epidemic of violence against women and girls is a hazardous move that would leave a significant proportion of the population vulnerable.
The human cost of a couple more pints on match day isn’t worth the gamble. At least, until incident rates are considerably lower, security spend is up, and women can feel safe in crowds of football fans and beyond – on trains, buses, tubes and streets – across the UK.
Fundamentally, living your life in fear is far more “unfair” than not being able to drink a beer for 90 minutes; That change should be the priority.
