Former Labour MP Stephen Pound has hit out at the imposed ban on England fans this weekend, as the Three Lions face their first clash in the Euros tournament.
Ahead of the match against Serbia this Sunday, it has been revealed that English fans will be offered German shandy instead, in a bid to “reduce risk” of hooligan behaviour.
Gelsenkirchen police spokesman Stephan Knipp told The Sun: “It is just the England game which will have the low-strength beer. The other games at the stadium will have 4.8 per cent.
“The stadium beer will be the same per cent as a Radler made with sparkling lemonade, which you English call shandy. Authorities are trying to reduce risk.”
Stephen Pound has hit out at plans to give England fans ‘shandy’ at Sunday’s match against Serbia
Getty / GB News
Criticising the move by the German stadium, Pound highlighted that the main call to action should be “crowd control and policing”, not “watering down beer”.
Pound fumed: “Germans, they do make a decent beer. And instead of the 4.5 that you normally expect, this is going to be 50 per cent lemonade.
“Do you think the Serbian fans are going to dilute their vodka? Can you imagine Bobby Moore being served a pint of lemonade?”
England fans are going to be given ‘watered down shandy’ instead of beer at the Veltins Arena in Germany this weekend
PA
“Most of the problems actually relate to the way they control it within the stadium. What we need is crowd control, separation, some proper policing on the day, and not this nonsense about making the British fans drink lemonade.”
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In agreement with Pound, commentator Mike Parry defended the English fans and claimed they are “very well behaved” when they are abroad.
Parry explained: “England fans are very well behaved when we travel abroad, our reputation is not what it was in the 80s when there was terrible violence everywhere we went.
“And so this once again is punishing the wrong people. The Germans are saying keep an eye on the English to try and defend them from the Serbians – why don’t you keep your eye on the Serbians and try and dilute the amount of booze they’re going to drink?”
Noting that the German police are “very effective”, Parry also highlighted that the FA have worked hard to make sure fans are at an “acceptable level of behaviour”.
Mike Parry says they are ‘punishing the wrong people’
GB News
Warning against the “Serbian mob”, Parry continued: “The old Serbian mob are unusually aggressive in their support of their country. That’s putting it mildly.
“You’ll find there’ll be more England fans there, about 40,000. In every stadium we have a dividing line. That dividing line separates the two sets of fans, what they have to stop are the missiles going from one side to the other.
“And that can be done properly with netting and all that kind of stuff, but also by making sure that the people go into the stadium without missiles and flares.”
Source Agencies
