Beer and Football

I've drunk a LOT of beer this weekend.

There was football and because Wigan were visiting Brighton and Hove Albion, my Wigan-supporting nephew asked to come and spend the weekend so he could continue in his quest to visit as many football grounds as possible.

Thankfully, he's a proper beer enthusiast too, so it was nice to take him to some of our Eastbourne and Brighton pub haunts.

But this blog isn't about my nephew...

I quite fancied the idea of going to football, but since the usual boys all have season tickets, and a game is less fun standing on your own, I went to the away end with Adam.

Now, here's the great thing about Brighton's Amex stadium.  Not only are away-stewards incredibly courteous and friendly (greeting us as we arrived, being very polite in the bag search, helping us with the bar coded tickets for the turnstiles, thanking us for coming on our way out) - but in all the concourse bars, they sell real ale - dispensed on order via handpump.

It means that after the game, rather than rush for the trains, home and away fans of football and real ale can hang back and have a drink and watch sports footage on the screens in the concourses.  As a result, the  pressure for exit is reduced along with our stress level.

Obviously, there's lager and soft drinks too...but it's unusual to have the treat of something we could happily drink (Harveys Best is the most usual).  No other football ground I've been to seems to have this philosophy although I'm told Leyton Orient's bar is open to CAMRA members on production of a membership card.

So yeah, the beery highlight of this weekend was probably a couple of pints of Best served into plastic glasses (you have to forgive that, given the nature of the venue) - is there any reason other clubs couldn't follow suit?