'I tested out drinking in the stands - football fans' matchday experience will change significantly'

'I tested out drinking in the stands - football fans' matchday experience will change significantly' Is football ready for Andy Burnham to lift drinking restrictions? The Mirror paid a visit to a top flight rugby match, where having a pint in the stands is part of the fans' routine We’re little over 20 minutes into the opening match of the new rugby season, and already a third groan is let out from the row in front. Not because of what’s being served up on the pitch as Harlequins and the superior Bath produce an eye-catching first half on Friday night, lit up by one of the greatest intercepted tries you’ll ever see. Not for the referee either. It’s way too polite here to even consider firing an eye-roll in the officials’ general direction. No, the group in front of the regulars just below us have stood up again. It’s beer o’clock. Someone’s thirsty, or just can’t control their bladder. You would have thought rugby fans would be battle-hardened to the regular disturbances the enjoyment of alcohol in your seats brings, but the frustration is growing. Unlike football fans, they’ve always been able to sup in view of the pitch. It’s part of the ritual. All very well if you’re standing on a terrace or you’re perched at the end of the aisle. Not so great if you need to navigate 20 people watching the game they've paid £65 to see as you grab your £7.50 pint. Not ideal either if you are buying for friends and everyone in the row must stand to attention as you take delicate pigeon steps to avoid disaster. Andy Burnham’s big idea that football fans should be equally free to enjoy a drink as they take in the actio has divided opinion. As it stands, the decades-long ban is in place for all clubs in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two and even the National League. Though fans like the 15,000 packed into a sold out Stoop watching Bath begin with a straight-forward win over Quins at rugby’s top level have no such restrictions. That, the Everton-supporting Prime Minister argues, is essentially discrimination. After the third disturbance dies down and the tutting train of people in front of us all reclaim their seats, the reality dawns. The two guys who nervously skulked off will soon be back. With a lot of beer. Clutching two full pints each, they soon return trying to get back to their friends. The row rises again. And with the action on the field rising, so do we to see over them. So do those behind us, unable to get a view of what’s going on.With overflowing pints in hand, it takes them double the time to carefully dodge dropping their precious ale. The saga is eventually over, but within five minutes a man in our row needs to make a dash and by this point tongues are not held. We are just over midway through a try-laiden half, and things are feeling a little tense; on edge that one frustrated word could cause a commotion. For those unfamiliar with the sport, rugby doesn’t really do matchday unease. It’s as far detached from the tribal nature of football as you can possibly find.Here, home and away fans mingle and share a joke. They talk to each other about their season and their cities, and even after a most brutal and heartbreaking defeat, it’s handshakes all round at full-time - not aggression. In football, fans even in the lower leagues are very rarely trusted to share a pub three hours before a game, let alone share a stand.It’s a totally different environment, and there’s a lot to admire about the friendly and respectful atmosphere at rugby games. It's what many round-ball fans wish their sport could be. The potential lifting of drinking restrictions at football has its benefits. For lower league clubs especially, who should bring in a much-needed additional six figures of income every season.It could also bring an end to the frantic two-hour pre-match consumption of pints, enabling supporters to space out their drinking. For clubs, their taps running throughout the day will have the bean-counters forecasting a surge in their take.But if this visit to Harlequins is anything to go by, fans need to prepare for their match experience to significantly change.There’s a danger, like in rugby, that the afternoon will almost become a day festival, with what’s in your hand more important to some than what’s happening on the pitch.And that’s where the problem could lie. Martin Waghorne watches both Harlequins and Premier League side Brentford, and he isn’t sure football is ready for the change. “It’s not only the fact that more alcohol will be consumed, but how it changes the match-going experience,” he told us.“There are a lot of positives as well. It will make going to the game more of a social thing and will encourage more people to attend, especially in Non-League football and in the lower leagues. Clubs need the money, too.“But I’m not sure football fans understand how disrupting it is once the game starts and if they're ready to accept it. It’s not just getting the beer and bringing it back, but it’s the extra trips to the toilet. At rugby most people just get used to it as it’s all we have known.“Football fans who want to watch the game and don’t want to have to be getting up and down every few minutes could be in for a shock if the ban is eventually removed. It’s important not to tar all football fans with the same brush, but it could make things uncomfortable. It's a very different experience.”When things turned awkward on Friday night, your mind wandered to how football fans five-pints deep would have resolved such a situation.I felt like I needed to go for a beer to relieve the stress. 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