Enough is enough

As a proud Welshman, I've been cross at the so many snide remarks made at an attempt to knock Welsh rugby over the years. We've all seen them about the fans who attend the Principality stadium. And for one, who enjoys a beer during the rugby, especially an international day I've just written it off as bad sport by those just trying to make waves. Although, the last few times I attended a game in the stadium, which was pre pandemic, so a while back now, I was getting cheesed off, by the constant moving to go to toilets then coming back with even more beer, I have turned into one that says no beer should be allowed past kick off.

But news, this morning of the poor 6 year old who was vomited on has made my blood boil.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59372210

Enough is enough... The WRU have to address this mindless moronic section we have going to the stadium these days. From the idiot who invaded the pitch for a £20 bet to this drunk b**tard who has no respect for others at the game and ruins this young fans experience. A young fan who could be the next Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, Shane Williams, or Rees-Zammit. We have to stop this culture now, before Welsh rugby is forever seen as the pits of rugby.

Perhaps if the WRU stopped serving beer in the stadium 10 mins from KO, it might stop those who are only going to get p!$$ed up actually going to the stadium and allow all the true fans in Wales and the visiting supporters the ability to enjoy the game and allow the youngsters, who are the future of our game, the ability to enjoy it and aspire to want to be the next Biggar, Adams, Liam.

I do hope the WRU do contact this young lads family, and offer them box seats for the 6 Nations games. To me, its the least they can do.

If you read the story (on the BBC link), and one of you happen to be the fan who took time to console this young lad, offering the lad your Welsh shirt. Thank you, for putting some pride back into being a "true" Welsh fan. If you are the b****** who threw up on this young lad, I hope you are so deeply ashamed you'll give up the booze, as for you I think alcoholism may be knocking on your door.

It is not just in Cardiff. If I attend a game at Murrayfield I spend more time standing up allowing people to go to and from the bar and toilets than watching the match.

I enjoy a pint before the game. I enjoy a pint after the game. I fail to see the need to spend the whole match drinking and basically being a nuisance to everybody else.

The puzzle for me is why this problem seems to be so specific to Welsh fans. I've now watched rugby in all of the 6 Nations and while you get the occasional [expletive deleted] from other countries, Wales does seem to attract a small but very persistent hard core of people who go way beyond the acceptable. Strangely, many of them seem to be middle aged women.

Poorfour wrote:The puzzle for me is why this problem seems to be so specific to Welsh fans. I've now watched rugby in all of the 6 Nations and while you get the occasional [expletive deleted] from other countries, Wales does seem to attract a small but very persistent hard core of people who go way beyond the acceptable. Strangely, many of them seem to be middle aged women.

Don't think it is tbf, think the stadia add to it though. Being in the middle of the city instead of a bit of a walk can't help the sobriety.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Poorfour wrote:The puzzle for me is why this problem seems to be so specific to Welsh fans. I've now watched rugby in all of the 6 Nations and while you get the occasional [expletive deleted] from other countries, Wales does seem to attract a small but very persistent hard core of people who go way beyond the acceptable. Strangely, many of them seem to be middle aged women.

Don't think it is tbf, think the stadia add to it though. Being in the middle of the city instead of a bit of a walk can't help the sobriety.

I think this is a good point tbh. Whilst it is great to be in the centre of Cardiff, enjoy a drink and some food and cross the road to the match, I've never really thought about the downside that it probably does encourage more drinking in the build up. I did notice quite a few places that you could only get in if you had booked beforehand.

I can kind of see that for the Aviva and Murrayfield, but Twickenham is also only a short walk from a large town with plenty of pubs. The closest are less than 5 minutes' walk away - and there are copious (if expensive) sources of beer in most of the grounds. The big exception is Stade de France - but even there there's a whole street of bars just outside the stadium.

I've never understood why you would pay so much for a ticket and then either miss most of the game going to and from the bar, or not remember most of it because you are so drunk.

In 2009 I was sat next to an Irish guy for Wales-Ireland who slept through the entire game and missed them winning the Grand Slam for the first time in something like 70 years.

Afro wrote:I've never understood why you would pay so much for a ticket and then either miss most of the game going to and from the bar, or not remember most of it because you are so drunk.

In 2009 I was sat next to an Irish guy for Wales-Ireland who slept through the entire game and missed them winning the Grand Slam for the first time in something like 70 years.

Well I dare say that guy had never watched an Irish Grand Slam before, as the one and only time  they had won a Slam before 2009 was in 1948.

I take the point about the location of the Stadium, but we cant change that, and personally I think the location is perfect. But if the WRU stopped selling drink in the ground all together or at least before Kick Off and during the game, I think the numbers who go just to get drunk and see the Principality as just another pub, wouldn't spend £70+ and would stay in the pubs instead. It would allow fans to attend more games and that would improve the atmosphere in the ground.

We want the Principality to be a fortress where Teams fear coming to play... BUT we also want it to be a warm friendly hospitable ground where ALL fans (home and away) love to come and watch rugby. We don't want it turning into a bar where you come to get p!$$ed up on a day out.

I hope the WRU does something soon, before its too late.

I’d be up for a stadium ban on drinking but we need to factor in the income lost too. It’s probably around £5 a pint in there. Some people of course have none. Some people might have upwards of 5 pints during a game. Let’s be conservative and just average it out at 1 pint per person per game on average. Complete guess though. So a full stadium of 70,000 = £350,000 in booze revenue. That’s every single game. So perhaps £1 million or so over an autumn series. It’s a lot of dosh to turn your back on. Especially when they’re struggling to compete with other nations and the amount they put into their games. Of course, they could reduce the wage bill by closing the bars. And perhaps the toilet cleaners wouldn’t be needed in the same quantity. So some wage bill could be saved. Not great for the economy but great for the WRU. But still wouldn’t come close to the amount they would lose in beer revenue. Again, just a guess.

Your spot on with the fact the WRU just see it as a source of revenue.

Not sure how much Net profit it works out as though, as your probably not far off £350k per game, but with staff charges, price of the beer, plastic glasses, etc.. I wonder how much profit there really is in it.

But I personally stick with my opening line, that enough is enough, and they should do something to address this, before Welsh fans and the Stadium gets a reputation they will find difficult to get rid of. (Unfortunately.. I think that may have happened).

Stade de France sells non-alcoholic beer only - and for not much less than the real thing. Maybe that's the way forward... Mrs Poorfour has gone largely teetotal in lockdown so we have been experimenting with non-alc stuff and some of it is very good.

Adnam's Ghost Ship non-alc is a perfectly acceptable substitute for the full fat version, and Big Drop's Galactic Milk Stout is so good that I would be tempted to drink it in preference to actual stout.

Well i paid £11 for what was ultimately two cans of strongbow poured into a couple of plastic cups. I reckon the margins are quite healthy on the drinks.

Although there are fewer reports from other stadia, I can't believe that the Principality is that much worse.

I'm not averse to drink myself and would hate to see all drinking in the stadium being banned. Rather than waiting for the WRU (or any other Union) fans themselves need to take some responsibility, for themselves and for their mates. How many people go on their own to drink excessively? It seems to me that it is mostly in groups and these should be self policing.

Idealistic? Probably, but we can hope.

Bring back Allbright! 3.3%!

Get some actual bouncers at the gates to police the ones that are slaughtered before KO already. There's no way you can get that drunk on the watered down beer in there, I can vouch for that.

I don't drink so don't see this as me defending someone who may have been intoxicated.

Was the spewer even drunk? He could have been ill or ate something from the burger van that didn't agree with him!

In terms of general drunkenness its not just Wales that have this I can confirm. Rugby with its roots in the amateur era still holds onto the "drunken rugger buggers" stigma and many, many folk who go to the games follow this mantra of getting boozed up.

In Scotland, the football stadiums were flat out banned from selling booze for decades and there was no clear reduction in crown numbers and folk would just spend their money on burgers/coffees instead. Rugby would need to decide to either go down an all out ban or police the crown better and someone who is completely rubbered would be asked to leave the grounds, just like a pub would do!