Two games into the 2020 Six Nations and all is looking rosy for Irish Rugby again. Two wins, one with a bonus point, a new captain who has immediately stepped up to the mark, and two full stadiums in Dublin.
The management is happy, the players are happy, and the fans are happy. We can all drink to that.
But that, it seems, is where an issue might lie for some supporters. A quick search on Twitter of “Aviva Stadium beer” shows that some fans are frustrated at the number of times during a match that they have to get up to let people either go to the bar to buy a drink or some back to their seat with drink in hand.
It’s a common issue that comes up quite often around the Six Nations, in particular with England supporters at Twickenham and Wales fans in Cardiff. Two years ago Clive Woodward called for changes to be made at the home of English rugby to stop people blocking the view of other supporters during the game, and just this year Wales have permanently introduced an “alcohol-free zone” at the Principality Stadium.
The IRFU said they are not considering implementing anything along the lines of the 'alcohol-free zone' in Cardiff
During the 2018 Autumn Internationals the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU ) began trialling the idea in a 4,200-capacity section of the Principality Stadium’s North Stand. Within that area fans are allowed to drink alcohol but only in the concourse below the stand and are not allowed bring it to their seats.
After surveying fans over the course of more than a dozen matches in the last two years, the WRU decided to make the area a permanent fixture for this year’s Six Nations, beginning with Wales’ win over Italy a fortnight ago.
While the Welsh initiative was brought about partly because of complaints about people moving back and forth from their seats and the bar but also because of some incidences of crowd trouble, Aviva Stadium attendees do have similar frustrations.
Complaints on social media ranged from fans frustrated that their view of the action was being blocked, to others complaining that too many people were in the ground for the occasion and the beer more than the rugby itself and that the same issues aren’t seen at provincial matches.
When asked by The Irish Times, the IRFU did say that they had been contacted by a small number of people about fan movement during the Scotland match but did not specify if these were to do with people going to get drinks or not. However, they did say that food and drink is an “increasingly” important part of the day for many fans.
When asked if they would consider instructing stewards to tell fans to wait for a break in play before getting up, a spokesperson said: “Access to food and beverages is, increasingly, an important element of a match experience for many people. When a large body of people come together there will always be movement within the stadium, for example as people use the restrooms and catering facilities.”
The IRFU also said they are not considering implementing anything along the lines of the “alcohol-free zone” in Cardiff.
Alcohol is, of course, a huge part of the culture of going to a sporting event for many people and indeed the Guinness sponsorship of the Six Nations and Heineken of the Champions Cup mean that no matter where you look it’s difficult to get away from it.
The IRFU would not reveal how many drinks were sold at the Aviva Stadium bars during a typical Ireland rugby international but it is a significant revenue stream for the organisation with 81 per cent of last year’s €87.5million in revenue coming from the men’s international game through “ticket sales, hospitality, sponsorship and amortised income”.
At Twickenham, which holds over 30,000 more people than the Aviva Stadium, bars sell around 160,000 pints of beer during a typical Test match which accounts for £500,000 of the £10m matchday revenue, according to the Daily Mail.
At Ireland international football matches, fans are allowed drink alcohol in the concourse but not “in view of the pitch” – with the exception of premium areas. That means that there is the strange situation where a fan at a football match will be stopped by the stewards from going to his or her seat with a pint in hand but, if the same fan is at the same stadium but watching a different sport, there will be no issue bringing the pint to his or her seat.
The same rules apply for GAA matches at Croke Park where fans can drink in the concourse but are prohibited from bringing those drinks to their seats whether they be in general admission areas of the stands of premium level.
A ban on bringing alcohol to your seat is quite common at football matches with all grounds across England employing the same restrictions since the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act came into being in 1985. However, those restrictions are often called into question by various fan groups who see it as unfair that football supporters are treated differently to people attending rugby or cricket matches, while some also make the point that not being allowed to drink while watching the match actually encourages more binge drinking before kick-off.
At League of Ireland matches, where most grounds have at least one bar, the regulations are the same in that fans can drink in the bar during the match but are not allowed bring drinks to their seats.
In Germany, it's common to see people collecting empty plastic cups from the terraces after the match in order to bring them back to the bar and receive €1 for each one
However, it’s fair to say that regulations at some League of Ireland grounds are just a little bit more lax than those in England with some clubs even allowing fans to leave the ground at half-time and go to the pub up the street for a pint.
The differences between rugby and football particularly came into focus during the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England where, for instance, a Leeds United season ticket holder could have sat in his or her seat at Elland Road with a pint in hand to watch Scotland beat the United States but then, a week later, would have been restricted from doing the same thing during Leeds’ loss to Birmingham City.
Two years ago Uefa lifted their alcohol ban on Champions League and Europa League matches which allowed fans to drink in stadiums, subject to national laws. For instance in Spain, where all alcohol is prohibited at all sporting events, fans are still restricted even at Champions League or Europa League matches but in Germany or Italy supporters can drink in the stands from plastic cups.
In Germany, where fans are generally treated better than in most other countries, it’s common to see people collecting empty plastic cups from the terraces after the match in order to bring them back to the bar and receive €1 for each one. Incidentally, that same initiative is something that the Aviva Stadium introduced at Ireland’s win over Scotland two weeks ago in an effort to reduce the plastic waste generated by fans.
Two years on from Uefa’s decision, the reaction from supporters has been very positive with many fan groups saying that the atmosphere is better at the start of matches and the queues into the ground are far smaller because supporters aren’t holding out until the last possible minute in bars outside the ground.
But while football fans may feel hard done by and unfairly treated in comparison to their counterparts who follow rugby, some supporters of the latter may just prefer if a leaf was taken out of football’s book when it comes to having a pint in the stand.
This article is part of a series of consumer-based sports stories. If you have any queries, stories or issues regarding travel, tickets, sport on television or anything else you can email rcroke@irishtimes.com or via Twitter @Ruaidhri_Croke.
