ICC alcohol ban will only benefit few

As we all know, the vast majority of fans cause no trouble. If any, trouble is caused by an isolated individual or two, who may not necessarily have imbibed alcohol. I cannot remember any trouble being caused in recent times by anyone at any international cricket match in the West Indies. So what’s the problem?

If the fear is that alcohol-consuming persons would cause trouble, then why not ban alcohol altogether? How does selling alcohol through concessionaires allay this fear? Sure, this method may help match authorities to manage the level of alcoholic consumption by fans, but only as a group, not as individuals. So if one person in a group of ten people has ten drinks and the others have none, the average consumption is one drink per person. A statistic of one drink per person may not be cause for alarm but trouble can still be caused by the guy who had the ten drinks.

I’m afraid that this Pro Forma will not solve any problem, at least not the problem it purports to solve.

It will only cause resentment by well-intentioned fans who just want to enjoy their cricket with a beer or two but are forced to pay exorbitant concessionaire prices. And who will decide who gets concessions? The situation is ripe for nepotism.

The ICC/WICB will benefit from the high prices they will charge for a concession.

The lucky concessionaire will benefit from a captive market forced to pay ridiculous prices. As usual, the only losers will be the loyal cricket fans who will be forced to part with more of their hard-earned money than is necessary.