‘On the Lash’ – revisiting the effectiveness of alcohol controls at football matches

Abstract

It has long been assumed that the problem of ‘football hooliganism’ is linked to levels of alcohol consumption by crowds of football supporters. As a result a number of laws and policing strategies have been developed that aim to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed by fans. This article is based primarily upon a 15-year ethnography of English football supporters and the effectiveness of social control policies upon them, and supported by interviews with police officials from the UK and Italy. Its conclusion is that alcohol restrictions are ineffective at reducing the level of drunkenness amongst fans, partly as a result of police under-enforcement. Furthermore, a by-product of a number of the restrictions is that the level of risk for violence between rival groups of fans is often increased. This article concludes that we need to revisit the use by police and football authorities of alcohol controls to reduce crowd disorder and look to other methods of reducing the problem of football hooliganism.

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