Nonsense SNP shocker as gov’t to lift Scottish alcohol ban

Ibrox Noise

·10 October 2024

Nonsense SNP shocker as gov’t to lift Scottish alcohol ban

Ibrox Noise has learned with interest the Scottish government’s proposal to lift the alcohol ban in stadiums, with discussions taking place with the clubs and the SPFL.

This ban has been in place since 1980, and further measures were put in place after the Old Firm shame game of 1999 and the chaos that ensued that day, and we have to admit the idea that the government wants to lift this ban is absolute madness.

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Scotland, Glasgow especially, is in the midst of a 15-year high for alcohol-related deaths, with this city already the world’s worst for drug deaths, and the Scottish government have called the situation an ‘emergency’, so what on earth are they playing at?

Scotland has a massive, socially-endemic problem with booze, and the idea that the government wants to lift the stadium ban is among the most absurd we’ve heard today.

AFS had this to say:

“Increasing the availability of alcohol by lifting the ban on alcohol in football stadiums at a time when Scotland has just reported a 15 year high in alcohol deaths and is in the midst of what the Scottish Government itself has described as an alcohol emergency, would be a step in the wrong direction. They should be taking urgent action to prevent and reduce alcohol harm, rather than considering making alcohol more available at matches.

“The ban on alcohol in football stadiums was introduced in response to a riot. In 2021, Police Scotland recognised that alcohol continued to be a factor in a large proportion of arrests at football.

“Even without alcohol in stadiums we have seen examples of violent disorder during or immediately after football matches in Scotland – including violent disorder and anti-social behaviour in Glasgow city centre over the past few years. We also know that reports of domestic violence increase around certain fixtures and that alcohol increases the severity of such violence. Making it easier to drink alcohol during the match is only likely to increase the risk of violence, accidents and other problems associated with binge drinking.

“People are free to have a drink before and after football matches. A 90-minute circuit breaker on people’s match day drinking allows people and families to enjoy matches in a safer and more inclusive environment.”

We can only imagine it is money-related, that they want the massive sales on alcohol taking place at a stadium like Ibrox or indeed Parkhead, 50,000 potential punters every week and the tax duty on that.

Any beer sold in Scotland over 3.5% alcohol is bringing the government in quite a few pennies in tax, each pint (can or draught) sold roughly earning 50P in tax, give or take.

So selling in stadiums where a lot of punters will happily pay over the odds for a pint during a match is a big money-spinner.

And that’s why the Scottish government is trying to lift the ban.

You only need 2,000 of those punters to buy a beer (or more) in the stadium and that’s £1000 off the bat. And while that’s a crude number, and not that impressive alone, it’s just a base example – far more than a couple of thousand would likely be sold on match day so it’s going to bring the government a fair few extra quid. And of course that’s at stadiums all over Scotland so the numbers massively add up.

Is it worth it for the potential chaos?

The government seems to think so.