Football police chief calls to drop plans for alcohol sales in stands at football grounds

The UK’s football policing lead says the Government must drop the “ridiculous” idea of piloting the sale of alcohol in sight of the pitch at grounds amid a rise in disorder.

There was a 36 per cent increase in reported incidents of disorder in the first half of this season compared to the same period in the 2019-20 campaign, with further problems cropping up over the weekend at Morecambe and at the Nottingham Forest v Leicester FA Cup tie.

The Government is considering its response to the fan-led review, which was chaired by Conservative MP and former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch and included a recommendation for a small-scale pilot in League Two and the National League.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts of Cheshire Police, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s football policing lead, has again urged the Government to abandon those plans.

He told the PA news agency: “I just hope that common sense prevails in Government and they drop this idea of even piloting alcohol coming back into stadiums,” he said.

“The idea that adding alcohol to the issues that we’ve currently got wouldn’t make it significantly worse, I think it’s just naive."

“I believe the suggestion is it should be trialled in League Two and non-league – well, they have seen significant increase in disorder so it’s nonsensical to do it there.

“You’re actually just fuelling a problem in leagues where we’re less able to deal with it. I think it’s ridiculous – I can’t be any more clear. We’re seeing increases in disorder, so we need to kibosh the idea of more alcohol.”