More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
MP Tracey Crouch is to push for a pilot scheme to allow drinking alcohol in football stadium seats during matches.
The Chatham and Aylesford MP is set to publish her independent fan-led review into the game, with potential changes to alcohol rules among the key suggestions.
Drinking in stadiums has been banned since 1985, and fans are only allowed to consume alcohol in the concourses of Football League grounds – a rule which often means more pints are sunk quickly before games or during half time.
Tracey acknowledged the violent scenes witnessed at Wembley during the Euro 2020 final were unhelpful in the context of the review, but said a progressive revision of the match-going experience was still needed to help support clubs.
Speaking to KentOnline, she said: "At the moment there's a universal ban on the sale of alcohol during football matches in the National League and above.
"You can't take a pint back to your seat.
"Clubs like Maidstone and Dulwich Hamlet in National League South would explain to you they financially can't get promoted, because if they do they have to close their bar.
"Clubs can't afford to be successful so you have this weird situation where Maidstone wants to do well and win the league, but by doing so they financially damage their sustainability."
As part of the review Tracey visited Dulwich Hamlet FC yesterday, where she met Peter Crouch and The Duke of Cambridge, who is also backing support for grassroots football.
She suggested football needed to take responsibility and sustain itself better - and that the scheme could help protect clubs lower down the 'football pyramid'.
The proposed pilot would allow serving alcohol at clubs in the National League and League Two, with the aim of expanding it across the professional game if successful.
In Kent that would mean Dover – currently in the National League – would be able to sell alcohol during matches.
The fan-led review, chaired by Tracey, was established amid the controversy surrounding the much-derided European Super League project which was put forward before collapsing earlier this year.
