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Football fans could be allowed to drink alcohol in their seats for the first time in almost 30 years if a campaign led by Ipswich Town gets the go-ahead.

A number of Premier League clubs have privately backed the campaign along with the majority of Championship clubs.

Ipswich Town’s former chief executive Simon Clegg - who stepped down from the role earlier this month - has written to the Football Association and the Football League asking for a review of the blanket ban on alcohol being drunk in sight of the pitch.

Clegg told MirrorFootball before he left the club that decisions on the restrictions should be made on a game by game basis by individual clubs’ safety advisory groups.

He said: “Society has moved on since the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s and home office figures would suggest that the number of arrests at games over the last couple of seasons is at an all-time low.

“That doesn’t mean I’m being complacent about this situation and what I’m not calling for is a complete lifting of the ban.

(Image: Getty Images)

“What I am suggesting is this issue should be delegated down to the local area for them to make a decision on a case by case basis. So if we were playing Norwich you probably wouldn’t do it but we probably would do it if we were playing Bristol City.”

Clegg said he has been thinking about the issue ever since he came into football four years ago and insisted it was not a knee-jerk reaction to the recent revelations about the Hillsborough disaster.

But the only response he has received from the FA and Football League is “acknowledgement” of his letters despite widespread support from fellow clubs.

“I’ve got a lot of support from my colleagues in the Championship. I’ve proposed having an open debate about the merits of lifting the ban and people are saying ‘yes, we should discuss this’, although one Premier League chief executive went further than that last week and said to me: ‘we would definitely support it.’

“I think this is a sensible way forward. I didn’t come from football, I came from the Olympics before that and sometimes people coming in from outside see things with fresh eyes.”

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Clegg said Portman Road – Ipswich Town’s ground, would be the ideal place to trial the idea due to its “excellent track record”.

But with similar proposals to bring back standing areas in stadiums, might the combination of the two cause problems?

“There are all sorts of ‘if this and this combined then might this be an outcome’. You never know until you actually try it and that’s no reason for not trialling it in my view.

"Now don’t tell me that in 60 years’ time people will still be going to football matches and still not be able to drink alcohol at football matches. Society moves on and laws need to keep pace with changes in society.”

The law banning supporters from drinking in their seats during games was passed in 1985 and only applies to football matches, which Clegg believes is unfair.

He gave the example of the Madejski Stadium in Reading, where football fans are banned from drinking in their seats at football matches but rugby fans can watch London Irish in the same seat with a pint in their hand.

(Image: Getty Images)

He also pointed out the “ludicrous” situation in corporate boxes where blinds are drawn 15 minutes before kick-off and during half time.

Clegg is aware, however, of the many obstacles in the way of lifting the ban on alcohol, not least of which is the police.

“There is a long way to go and I do recognise it requires a leap of faith – particularly to conservative organisations such as ACPO [Association of Chief Police Officers] and perhaps footballing authorities as well.

“But that doesn’t mean that the law shouldn’t be challenged at some stage to ask the question ‘is it still fit for purpose?’ as opposed to just accepting it as a fait accompli.”

