When do you blow the whistle on free pints during a football game?

Claire Morris, Associate Licensing

Poor Beccy Webster, landlady of the Gedling Inn, and now £1,500 down after giving a free pint to the 12^th man for every one of the 7 goals scored by Nottingham Forest against Brighton at the weekend.

At one point, Beccy thought about cancelling the promotion when the goals kept pouring in.

It could have been a lot worse. Any football fan will be aware of the game-throwing and protest scoring that has led to some astonishing results in the past. In less controversial territory, Australia beat American Samoa 31-0 in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Back at home, there is a long list of games in recent years where the winning side has scored at least 9 goals.

But it makes you wonder – could a premises be get caught off-side by this situation turning into irresponsible drinks promotion (IDP) at some point during the match? Could it have been a promotion of two halves?

It’s quite possible. For example, an irresponsible drinks promotion can be defined as “Providing unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol for free…to the public or to a group defined by a particular characteristic. In a manner which carries significant risk of undermining the licensing objectives.”

There are a few things you might consider before launching a promotion like this. Who’s playing who? How many people are you expecting and who are they? How is the match going? And should you put a cap on the limit of free drinks given away per person?

If you think you’re going to get caught by the IDP then you should think about blowing the final whistle on the give-away.