"MAGGIE Bans Booze" said the headlines and who could quarrel with her following the horrific climax in Brussels to years of soccer violence. Well, I do — mainly, but not only, because banning, like boycotts and trade embargoes, very seldom works.
If all the fun is taken out of soccer I suspect it will just breed meaner fans. What's needed is to get the family back into the game and let dad have a glass of beer if he wants it. I was never so impressed than when I visited a New York soccer stadium clean as a whistle, with beer or hot dogs or ice cream and refuse bins that were used — and never a cross word.
So maybe, instead of banning the booze, soccer could start off with coats of cheerful paint and maybe even that beer with no alcohol in it and a flask of tea for granny. Cheers.