Leaders: Doubts about mixing football and alcohol
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy thinks so. He has mustered fair points to support his argument. He argues that “times have changed, football has changed, the stadiums have changed”. He points to alcohol sales at rugby grounds as an example of class prejudice and cites huge improvements in crowd behaviour since the 1980s.
There should be no doubt that the vast majority of football fans are, as they historically have been, well behaved. And there are clear indications that outbreaks of troublesome, alcohol-fuelled behaviour are not as severe as they once were. But has there been sufficient improvement to lift the ban?
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Hide AdFootball has cleaned up its act. But that cleansing is far from complete. There are still problems including bottles being thrown at Old Firm games, sectarian chanting and abuse. More evidence is needed that anti-social and abusive incidents have declined sufficiently to allow the authorities to lift the ban with confidence that the terraces will be safe.
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