Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Football and Beer-My Two Favorite Things












Beer and football; two pleasures inextricably linked, but at a time when fans are tightening their belts and trying to cut down on frivolous spending it seems that the evil, money-grabbing football clubs in the Premier League are conducting a booze shakedown.

That's the take coming from Don Foster MP, the UK Liberal Democrat party's spokesman for culture, media and sport, who has accused clubs of ''blatant profiteering'', in what itself is one of the most blatant attempts to buy votes since the English Football Association took their 2018 World Cup bid bandwagon to see Jack Warner in Trinidad and Tobago.

Is a politician really calling for cheap beer at football? Why not go the extra mile and call for a loyalty scheme where you buy five pints and get a free flick knive...

That's the take coming from Don Foster MP, the UK Liberal Democrat party's spokesman for culture, media and sport, who has accused clubs of ''blatant profiteering'', in what itself is one of the most blatant attempts to buy votes since the English Football Association took their 2018 World Cup bid bandwagon to see Jack Warner in Trinidad and Tobago.

Figures released by Foster this week reveal that just three of England's top flight sides charge below the national average of £2.96 for a pint at their grounds.

It will come as no surprise that the costliest pint available is at Stamford Bridge, where fans are asked to part company with a credit-crunching £4.00 for a pint, while the cheapest on offer comes at Wigan where £2.70 buys you your tipple.

The average price across the Premier League is £3.19, which is higher than the average of £3.07 charged by football's counterparts in Premiership rugby union grounds or the £2.84 average charged by rugby league's Super League clubs.

(Imagine the smirk on the face of Mr Foster's assistant being wiped from his face when the Member of Parliament for Bath told the poor chap that his research into the cost of beer at Premier League clubs would require 20 phone calls and not 20 taste tests.)

Arsenal, Manchester City, West Ham and Fulham are joint second in the Premier League booze table, all charging £3.50 a pint, while Manchester United find themselves in the lower half of the standings charging a fair £3.00.

Foster, who has got some good mileage and column inches out of his call for clubs to repay the loyalty of fans by cutting the cost of beer, says: ''Unfortunately, it comes as little surprise to me that Premier League football fans are, once again, being ripped off.

''As if extortionate ticket prices weren't bad enough, top flight football clubs are charging over the odds for a basic pint. This blatant profiteering should not continue to go unnoticed. When will Premier League football clubs learn to stop taking the loyalty of their fans for granted?''

By Phil Holland

2 comments:

tomher90 said...

Man City should be giving beer away, given their new ultra-rich ownership. Or better yet, Abu Al-Cash-Dispenser should buy a brewery and then use the brewery to sponsor his own club kits. Kinda like that guy who owns Chivas de Guadalajara who owns Bimbo bread.

On the other hand, West Ham should be charging 5 pounds a pint to help bail the Icelanders out of their economic turmoil.

Stanley said...

I think City should change the water fountains to beer fountains.


The Fire should also read this article. $7.50 for an Okocim??? I see myself smuggling more beer into games next year.