Difficult questions - drinking culture in RL

[Tommygilf]

 

Yes, lets get real.

For the players it quite clearly is, the vast majority don't go for a beer after games for example or drink during the season unless there is a 2 week break for example. Part time rugby is different culturally.

In fact only time I've seen any serious drinking by players after a game in season is after Cas lost the CCF in 2014 and cleared up in the Tesco near the stadium to have on the bus home!

 

[Oxford]

We have always found drunks funny, and a lot of times they are and like seaside postcards more damage is done by ideas like that we all want to admit. And there'll be someone on here to defend that shortly in all probability. I like a drink but alcohol is a bad thing for society as a whole like the idea or not. Leaving it up to the individual as not been a roaring success since alcohol was invented and it has been damaging lives more or less since that point. I'm not sure what else there is to say about it. RL needs to be a family friendly sport that models life without alcohol for sportsmen and women. I think drink is too embedded in UK culture to remove it from the sport altogether.

[chemicmike]

Agreed in part SL17 but it's the difference between liking a drink (e.g. at a game or with players say below SL level at least) and drinking to excess.  Certainly have seen the latter at some recent Challenge Cup and Grand Final matches as well (and I certainly like a drink in saying this).

I do agree rugby generally has a drinking culture; it is at least the same, arguably more extreme still, in the UK in Union.  Some sports; racing and Henley are great examples, better than Union, do seem to get away with it in terms of media attention because of the type of speccies/class of people who do it.  Have seen worse at Royal Ascot or Henley than at any rugby game (either code).

In this era I think for big finals the cricket approach of alcohol free stands (which as someone said the Mill Stad in Union are also now adopting) makes sense - I think all the Ashes venues this Summer except Lord's have alcohol free areas.  Certainly Headingley, Old Trafford and Edgbaston do; not 100% about the Oval.  Some fans/families will prefer to go if you have such areas.

[Manxmanc]

 

My bad. I've edited the initial post. 

That"s great Costa.

[DEANO]

Alcohol has always gone had in hand with rl. Where else could a working man get a drink between 2 and 7 on a Sunday 

[redjonn]

2 hours ago, SL17 said:

Our game is built around a pint. Generations have followed suit why should the game change culture to suit the minority?

you may be right... but it is the minority that insist on carrying 2 pint beer glasses to their seats or wherever they are in the stadium... Ban those 2 pint glasses and taking drink into the watching the game part of the stadium...

[Dr Tim Whatley]

7 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

What about fans drinking to excess while attending games? 

Millennium Stadium in Cardiff have recently brought in alcohol free areas, could we see any RL games adopt something similar.

Personally I would be in favour of stopping people taking beer to their seats at Finals, as they do in football. 

Steady on! Part of the appeal of RL to me is that I can have a beer at my seat! I'd say I'm looking forward to a few tomorrow, but finding a decent drink inside Wembley is usually a bit of a challenge...

Alcohol within view of the pitch is banned at all football games down to at least League Two (not sure about National League, but it is definitely ok National League North/South.

Alcohol free areas are certainly a good idea though.

[gingerjon]

Just now, SL17 said:

The problem with alcohol free zones is they wouldn’t be in prime viewing areas. Is not just creating another argument?

Guaranteed there would be another thread on here full of complaints from the minority.

That rather depends on the ground. There are alcohol-free (and also "not alcohol free but it's a ###### to get a drink in this bit") sections at the cricket. I know because despite liking a drink, I don't like being surrounded by drunks, and so I tend to get tickets for them. The views are as good as all but the most premium sections but then we're talking about grounds that don't really have bad views. The same would be true of Wembley and the Millennium Stadium as well.

[Bulliac]

I never drink in grounds as I find the beer far better in pubs, however I think many clubs would lose a lot of income if sales were banned in grounds, so for me it's a total non-starter. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone actually drunk in a ground, though I confess they can be a nuisance when going to and from the bar when the game is in progress.

[Trojan]

I enjoy a drink. But I never drink when I go to the rugby, largely because I find it difficult enough following the game sober, let alone after one or two.  I only wish  a few more of my fellow Fev fans would follow my example.  How they can enjoy the game, the state some of them get into is beyond me. However, the only time I've seen real trouble at P O R was when the HKR fans came season before last.  They were wrecked and invaded the pitch, the Fev fans didn't respond in like, but they certainly egged the Robins fans on.  I suppose beer sales contribute to the clubs' incomes.  But for me I'd ban it.  However, on thirsty hot days you may need something. May I suggest that selling 50p. bottles of water for 2.00 and keeping the tops is hardly conducive to an alcohol ban.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

I don’t believe people get drunk inside a stadium, I think most of their drinking is done prior to entering a stadium so restricting alcohol sales inside a stadium is not going to have a major effect. 

 

[Oxford]

4 hours ago, SL17 said:

Our game is built around a pint. Generations have followed suit why should the game change culture to suit the minority?

If you think the people with problems around alcohol are a minority and not worth our consideration then no of course we shouldn't pause even for a moment and have another bevvy! It's your round!

[Damien]

1 hour ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

I don’t believe people get drunk inside a stadium, I think most of their drinking is done prior to entering a stadium so restricting alcohol sales inside a stadium is not going to have a major effect. 

 

I completely agree. I have seen some people in a right state before they even get into the ground. Its also practically impossible to get in the state that you see some people in from drinking in the stadium for 2-3 hours.

[RigbyLuger]

It's only a matter of time before something bad happens on a Mad Monday and then everyone gets tarred with the same brush. Do any other industries make a big thing of a giant booze-up?

[Andy Capp]

On 23/08/2019 at 06:00, RugbyLeagueMan said:

Not going to be liked, but either ban alcohol at games or restrict to 1/2 jars each and monitored.

Clubs make too much profit on Sales to give up revenue easily.

[Andy Capp]

On 23/08/2019 at 12:57, redjonn said:

you may be right... but it is the minority that insist on carrying 2 pint beer glasses to their seats or wherever they are in the stadium... Ban those 2 pint glasses and taking drink into the watching the game part of the stadium...

I'd rather they disrupted me once and came back with two pints, than disrupted me and blocked my view twice (well four times if you count going out and coming back from the bar)

[audois]

Extracks taken from this book :

 

 

Adrian McGregor, a journalist and biographer of Wally Lewis, once observed that rugby league clubs were in fact workingmen’s clubs, with their social and cultural values “fixed in an Australia which existed between 1930 and 1960”. “When the Brisbane Broncos run on to Lang Park [...] for their inaugural Sydney premiership match,” predicted McGregor, “their toughest task will not be to defeat Manly-Warringah, but to drag rugby league into the 21st century.”

Maranta admitted that none of his fellow directors would take their wives to hyper-masculine rugby league matches. Instead, they decided to civilise rugby league by separating Lang Park into drinking and dry sections, while Maranta told reporters that wives and kids were welcome, as well as dads.

What the Broncos were attempting to do, in effect, was end the class prejudice that existed towards rugby league and reach out to new audiences. “There was a real bad feeling towards rugby league,” recalled Barry Maranta. “I played golf at Royal Queensland and no-one would talk to me because I was a leaguie! Serious. I didn’t go to a GPS school and I played rugby league, so I was persona non grata!’

Maranta and his fellow directors set about transforming the mud, sweat and beers approach of clubs in the 1970s into a corporate franchise that would be all things to all men – and women. “The first thing we decided, in trying to get bums on seats, was why deny yourself half the marketplace?” explained Maranta. “We went out of our way to get women immersed with us from day one. Our No 1 Bronco supporter, and in fact jersey-holder, was Sallyanne Atkinson, who was the lord mayor of Brisbane at the time.

“The first game that we played against Manly, Sallyanne was the one that kicked the ball off, and notoriously her shoe went further than the ball. It became quite a thing, and was publicised in the media, because rugby league was considered not a game for women to go to – they went to the rugby union. We changed that, virtually from game one.”

 

 

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[Dr Tim Whatley]

Serving Budweiser at nearly six quid a pop is probably a good way of deterring people from drinking at the game.

[CanadianRugger]

Drinking isn't a rugby league problem, it's a society problem.  Culturally speaking, a lot of Anglo-Saxons (Yanks, Brits, Canucks, Aussies & Kiwis) drink and when we do, we usually overindulge i.e. binge drink.

I use to have a drinking problem.  It wasn't that I was drunk all the time or everyday, it was that when I did drink, I would drink too much which was usually on weekends and when I wasn't working.  I would also turn in to a huge asshole when I drank too much.

Getting ###### tanked every weekend is terrible for you and will eventually catch up to you.  I quit drinking completely a year ago and have felt better than I have in a long time.  I work out every other day now, am active and feel great.  My relationships with people who are important to me have also improved significantly.

The biggest difficulty I had was adjusting to my social situation.  What I realized was at least half my personal relationships were ###### and were based solely on mutual love of consuming alcohol. Society also puts tremendous pressure on people with all the alcohol marketing that is everywhere.  Go out for a nice dinner and ask for water and you'll get a funny look from the server.  We don't even realize it but we've all been brainwashed by alcohol companies.

I've saved a lot of money this past year, feel way better and am a lot happier now that I'm not smashing 12 cans of beer every other weekend.

[Padge]

On 23/08/2019 at 12:51, DEANO said:

Alcohol has always gone had in hand with rl. Where else could a working man get a drink between 2 and 7 on a Sunday 

In Wigan support was built on this idea, in St. Helens that did take a lot longer as they were very much a Quaker based town.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Taken from another forum this sheds some light on 'Mad Monday'  (and players' salaries) https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff75560d03e7f57eab65b

[latchford albion]

13 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Taken from another forum this sheds some light on 'Mad Monday'  (and players' salaries) https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff75560d03e7f57eab65b

Not too many come out of that smelling of roses do they?

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

4 hours ago, latchford albion said:

Not too many come out of that smelling of roses do they?

Certainly not the subject of the photograph I suspect....

[latchford albion]

11 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Certainly not the subject of the photograph I suspect....

I'm that stupid that I just went back to the link because I couldn't remember seeing a photograph in it.  Scott Moore seems to be a common denominator in a lot of cases of misbehaviour.  He was involved in the Brian Smith car incident at Wakey wasn't he?

[graveyard johnny]

anyone whos played sunday morning amateur rl in the 80s knows the teams were still half cut from sat nite  and either being sick or out to hurt you and the whistle would blow just before opening time so everyone could top up, ah the memories