Football wasn't ready for Andy Burnham's bid to lift alcohol ban

The lifelong Everton supporter wants to right decades of wrongs in his role as leader of the nation, and the game he loves is part of those plans for revolution. Unlike David Cameron, who couldn't distinguish which shade of claret and blue belonged to West Ham and his beloved Aston Villa, Burnham's true-blue credentials are unquestionable.

He even managed to incorporate a match at Hill Dickinson Stadium into his summit with the Canadian premier and fellow Evertonian, Mark Carney, as the pair watched David Moyes ' side scrape past Wolves in the Carabao Cup 's third round from the stands. The restriction introduced in 1985 as a countermove to rampant hooliganism remains in effect over four decades later despite marked changes in match-going behaviour.

The PM believes the Sporting Events Control of Alcohol Act is 'discrimination' towards football fans, who are still treated as second-class citizens by those in positions of law and order while other sports carry on regardless. Rugby supporters of both denominations - league and union - had no issues lugging pints up to their seats at Hill Dickinson Stadium earlier this summer.

Cricket aficionados, similarly, are looked on favourably when they do the same at test matches. It's considered part and parcel of the conviviality.

In contrast, anyone daring to peer in the direction of a stadium vomitory in England and Wales across the men's top five leagues with a drink in hand finds themselves under scrutiny from stewards and police alike. Yet Burnham was not actively pushing for an end to the legislation, rather seeking to start a conversation around the merits of doing so by reaffirming a long-held opinion publicly.

He is already fully aware of the political resistance towards it after MPs rejected a motion put forward by the Conservative Party last year that requested a formal consultation on scrapping the rule under the auspices of the Football Governance Bill. Support from within the game is similarly reluctant with polling from YouGov finding that 64% of match-going Brits believe the ban should remain in place compared to 26% who backed Burnham's sentiment.

Support was never likely to be universal on any attempt to change the status quo, even supposedly for the better, yet many have valid reservations for not greeting the potential shift in legislation with unbridled joy. Scenes at watch-along venues during major international tournaments were an obvious red flag for those unconvinced by the idea of a return to drinking within the stands.

Plastic glasses being thrown is not a phenomenon exclusive to Boxpark. Revellers and performers have found themselves pelted with tepid liquids, some not sourced from a beer tap, since time immemorial.

But as FourFourTwocolumnist Henry Winter recently pointed out, it has now become a national sport. Publicly taking in an England game is on par with sitting in the front two rows at SeaWorld; both come with an obligatory soaking.