Drinking Trial will see alcohol return to the stands at five women’s clubs in England

A stadium drinking trial at four women's Championship sides will see the return to alcohol consumption during football matches in view of the pitch for the first time since the ban in 1985.

Bristol City, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Southampton will take part in the trial, which will be rolled out in the second half of the Championship season. The pilot scheme will see between four and five games used as test vehicles for the scheme before any future larger scale rollout.

The trial will see fans at Ashton Gate, St Andrew's, Kingston Park and St Mary's being able to consume alcohol in view of the pitch for the first time since the ban in 1985. The banning order came into place due to hooliganism and spans the top five tiers of the men's game. The legislation does not cover the women's game, however, allowing the trial to take place.

Drinking trial could be the start

15 minutes before a game, the consumption of alcohol in sight of a football pitch must stop. In hospitality, that means blind come down, and we move to alcohol-free. While women's football is not covered by the ban, due to the logistics involved, and many sides sharing grounds, the ban has been carried over. This new trial could give officials some insight into a possible future where the ban is removed. In fairness, fans do and can still drink at football stadiums; they just have to do it before the game or at halftime.

Nikki Doucet, chief executive of the Women's Professional Leagues (WPLL), said a trial would take place. ‘I think our fan base and the behaviour is different (to the men’s game), and I think ultimately it’s about being able to give our fans choices, while obviously maintaining the safety and what we need to do in terms of being responsible.'

The trial may not go anywhere for the men's game, but it might lead to the women's game, opening the doors to a much larger trial. Though, we suspect it won't mean much for the men's game any time soon. We saw at the EURO in England that even with the ban, English fans will still cause trouble, alcohol-fueled or not.

FGG says: A good trial, that should stay in the women's game

I will say it fully upfront to remove some bias: I am not a drinker of alcohol. I don't care about it, but I fully understand that it's part of the experience for some people. That said, I think football should be a family-friendly experience as well. At this point, the ban has been in place for nearly 30 years, and I don't think removing it will make any major positive change. For the women's game, however, it seems like the perfect place to trial it, given the demographic of fans is likely different.

We are curious to see what the trial will yield and what the WPLL hopes to find. We'll provide updates when the official results are available.