Breath Testing at Football

[storrmin571]

It was like a charity game - Jacks were always going to beat the blues and the mighty Scarlets were always going to thrash the dragons.

[dPmunky]

Today, at the Cambridge United v Burton Albion game, they are doing a trial to Breathalyse supporters attending the match. According to BBC 5 Live, the "threshold" will be about 70 mil,( ie: about 2 pints).
The stewards will pick people at random, or target those that THEY feel may have been drinking. If successful it may be rolled out to every game.
What the fuck is going on?!
Football fans being demonised again!!!
I wonder if they will apply the same standards to the chavs that will be trawling the city/town centres pissed/drugged up tonight, and every other weekend?!

hell, why would you even bother to leave the pub then?

[augie]

Today, at the Cambridge United v Burton Albion game, they are doing a trial to Breathalyse supporters attending the match. According to BBC 5 Live, the "threshold" will be about 70 mil,( ie: about 2 pints).
The stewards will pick people at random, or target those that THEY feel may have been drinking. If successful it may be rolled out to every game.
What the fuck is going on?!
Football fans being demonised again!!!
I wonder if they will apply the same standards to the chavs that will be trawling the city/town centres pissed/drugged up tonight, and every other weekend?!

Is that even legal ?? I mean they can breathalyse you if you are driving a vehicle, and they can test you if you are causing danger to others (whatever that means), but unless they change the law then I don't think that they can test you on your way into the ground without having good reason. I know for certain that the stewards cannot breathalyse anyone, but I'm not sure if you meant that they were only picking out the fans or if they were actually doing the tests.

Unless I am very much mistaken, there is no legal limit to how much a person can drink - allowing this to happen will mean that in the future you can be breathalysed at anytime and anywhere and that includes on your own property/land

[mcdowell42]

I'd be fucked if they started breath testing at work on a monday morning.

[northbank123]

I think they can do what they want really - just like I could breathalyse people wanting to come into my house - provided that they publish the fact they're going to do it (so that people who have bought tickets/STs can't justifiably turn around and say these weren't the rules when they bought tickets. People seem to forget that ultimately a football stadium is private property owned by a private company who have the same rights to choose who can come in as any other company (or individual). I'm sure that they have a broad clause in their Ts and Cs reserving the right to remove people under blah-blah and to change their policies/procedures or rules at any time blah-blah but they would be on rocky ground if they just started piling in and kicking out people just over the drink-drive limit without warning.

In terms of breathalysing I don't see that it's any more intrusive than bag searching and the full-body search away fans sometimes are subject to.

Of course doesn't make it right but if a club wants to have a teetotal crowd I don't see anything stopping that!

[augie]

I think they can do what they want really - just like I could breathalyse people wanting to come into my house - provided that they publish the fact they're going to do it (so that people who have bought tickets/STs can't justifiably turn around and say these weren't the rules when they bought tickets. People seem to forget that ultimately a football stadium is private property owned by a private company who have the same rights to choose who can come in as any other company (or individual). I'm sure that they have a broad clause in their Ts and Cs reserving the right to remove people under blah-blah and to change their policies/procedures or rules at any time blah-blah but they would be on rocky ground if they just started piling in and kicking out people just over the drink-drive limit without warning.

In terms of breathalysing I don't see that it's any more intrusive than bag searching and the full-body search away fans sometimes are subject to.

Of course doesn't make it right but if a club wants to have a teetotal crowd I don't see anything stopping that!

I'm not sure that they have the rights to demand that you comply with breathalysing though and I'm damn sure that they cannot prevent you from entering the ground for being over the 70ml limit unless they have other reasons for doing so (causing a disturbance, being "rowdy", prior bad behaviour inside the ground)

[northbank123]

What law is it breaking though Augie? If they start selling tickets on the express condition that fans will be breathalysed and that those over a certain limit will be denied entry, what actually stops them from being able to doithat?

[augie]

What law is it breaking though Augie? If they start selling tickets on the express condition that fans will be breathalysed and that those over a certain limit will be denied entry, what actually stops them from being able to doithat?

There is no law limiting what a person can drink as long as they are not in charge of a mechanical vehicle or causing a disturbance so AFC (or any other club) cannot stop people from entering if they are not breaking the laws of the land. To do so would in effect raise concerns about what would happen next and whether clubs could then stop different races/ethnic groups from entering if they can just put such a clause on their tickets and that certainly wouldn't be allowed, so I cannot see how clubs would be allowed to prejudice against fans who like a few pints before games.
Anyway, as others have already stated, selling beer inside the ground would be hypocritical and would absolutely wipe out any legal reason for refusing entry to fans - if a club feels that fans drinking a few pints are a high risk group, then they would not be allowed sell alcohol inside the stadium and there is no way any club would allow a such of revenue be shut down like that

[northbank123]

Like it or not Arsenal can choose the criteria for letting people in. Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean they can't use it. It's not illegal to wear trainers but restaurants are free to refuse entry to people wearing them.

The difference with preventing people of race religion etc is that there are civil and criminal laws which prohibit treating people differently based on that. There are no laws protecting people who like drinking 3+ pints before football.

Just because it's unfair and ridiculous doesn't mean it's illegal.

[SteveO 35]

If they brought that in I'd be near to giving it up. Don't drink outside but then you can spend a fortune on piss water I the ground, aye fuck off. Mind I'd breathalyse everyone coming into Sunderland games, if you haven't had at least 8 points you can't come in, it's against your human rights

Stan and Ivan will be licking their greedy lips at the prospect of this - a chance to raise the price of our lukewarm piss to £6 a pint knowing that you can't get pissed outside

[SPUDMASHER]

What law is it breaking though Augie? If they start selling tickets on the express condition that fans will be breathalysed and that those over a certain limit will be denied entry, what actually stops them from being able to doithat?

There is no law limiting what a person can drink as long as they are not in charge of a mechanical vehicle or causing a disturbance so AFC (or any other club) cannot stop people from entering if they are not breaking the laws of the land. To do so would in effect raise concerns about what would happen next and whether clubs could then stop different races/ethnic groups from entering if they can just put such a clause on their tickets and that certainly wouldn't be allowed, so I cannot see how clubs would be allowed to prejudice against fans who like a few pints before games.
Anyway, as others have already stated, selling beer inside the ground would be hypocritical and would absolutely wipe out any legal reason for refusing entry to fans - if a club feels that fans drinking a few pints are a high risk group, then they would not be allowed sell alcohol inside the stadium and there is no way any club would allow a such of revenue be shut down like that

If I recall correctly a person can be considered to be drunk if their behavior is unacceptable to a person of reasonable firmness and they have consumed alcohol. So, whilst you're right that there is no limit on what you can drink, there is also not a minimum at which you can be considered to be drunk. I'm really not sure about a stewards right to administer a breath test though. Don't forget that a roadside device cannot be used to prosecute a drink driver, it is simply a screening device. Would they have to conduct a screening and then subject you to a formal test on a lion 3000 which is a calibrated machine? I just don't see it being practical to do so.

Although I don't like this idea at all but at the same time I can see a couple of reasons why they might do it.

1. Obvious one this. They get to sell you the beer once you're in the ground instead, thus increasing their profits.
2. It is actually a licensing offence to sell alcohol to somebody that is considered to be unfit through it's consumption. This is the reason why landlords often won't serve you any more once they feel that you've had enough. The problem with this one being that it is totally subjective. What one man views as excessive another may not. Football clubs may fear being sued by local businesses for damage caused etc. by fans as a result of alcohol. This is an increasingly litigious society we live in and fun is no longer allowed.

As a private business they can stipulate conditions of entry. Having consumed too much alcohol is actually a sensible one but I refer to my point above, it's subjective as to what is too much. To my mind this is just another step in the sanitization of football to a point where it is no longer an enjoyable distraction to the daily grind of life. I hope it fails miserably and never becomes the norm.

[GranadaJoe]

If it's a non-subjective way of stopping fans who are paralytic getting into the ground I don't have a problem, but you always get mission-creep and, in the hands of a jobsworth, fascist steward it's going to target ordinary fans.

[augie]

If it's a non-subjective way of stopping fans who are paralytic getting into the ground I don't have a problem, but you always get mission-creep and, in the hands of a jobsworth, fascist steward it's going to target ordinary fans.

2 pints (70ml) wouldn't be classed as paralytic in anyone's book

[SPUDMASHER]

you've forgotten what DB10 is like on a night out

[DB10GOONER]

you've forgotten what DB10 is like on a night out

The same DB10 that was up drinking until 4am, caught a 6:25am flight to London to play in the Gooner/Mackem fans game and was as good as any of the other shite we put on the pitch (with the exception of our brilliant keeper who kept the scoreline down to 5-1) that day?

That DB10?

Fuck you Dwarfslop.