West Ham United are to enforce a booze ban ahead of the EFL Cup visit of Chelsea tomorrow night, fans will not be allowed to buy alcohol in mobile bars outside the London Stadium. Police will be patrolling around the ground before and after the match and will be fully deployed around the London Stadium for the first time, although they were in attendance in limited numbers for the most recent match against Sunderland. All supporters have been urged to arrive early because of extra body searches that will be carried out at the turnstiles.
A West Ham statement read: “There will be no pre-match alcohol sales from the mobile bars outside the stadium but bars will be open as normal inside the ground, “All bottled alcoholic beverages will be decanted into plastic cups. There will be no post-match alcohol sales. “The Met Police will deal with crime and disorder and support all the stakeholders in making this a safe event.”
That includes the decision to keep Chelsea fans away from Stratford International and Underground station, with a segregation system set to be put in place outside the ground that will direct fans to the nearby Pudding Mill Lane Docklands Light Railway station. With over 5,000 Chelsea fans attending the match on Wednesday night, extra security will be needed particularly to and from the transport links. Chelsea fans may not be able to travel from Stratford station after the match, but it is a shorter walk to Pudding Mill Lane DLR station with the walk taking much less time than it does to Stratford by foot.
However, the away fans might be held in the stadium in order to allow the larger number of home supporters to disperse, which could leave fans stranded. The match will not finish any earlier than 21:30, and should the tie got to extra-time and penalties, it could go on for an additional 45 minutes. With many Chelsea fans already planning to make their way home from Stratford, they would face the task of walking to Pudding Mill Lane and travelling one stop back to Stratford – providing they are allowed by police who could choose to prevent trains filled with Chelsea supporters from stopping at the station.
Another official West Ham statement confirmed “A cordon will be in place either side of turnstile D (away turnstile) and all away supporters will egress via the south steps towards Pudding Mill Lane Station. The corridor from turnstile D to the south steps will be closed to home supporters for around 30 minutes during peak egress.”“Due to the post-match segregation, home supporters exiting podium level via turnstiles C, B and A will need to turn right on exit and walk clockwise around the stadium. Home supporters exiting podium level via turnstiles E, F and G will need to turn left on exit and walk anti-clockwise around the stadium.”
Readers can be excused for having thought the first part of this article heading was in some way referring to the consumption of alcohol by professional athletes that are paid a fortune who are currently out injured! Perhaps the club should extend the occasional booze ban to players as well as fans?- Ed
Comments
I was wondering when the
I was wondering when the players booze ban was gonna be mentioned :-)
Just need to stop them serving Carroll and Randolph really. Don't see the others as big drinkers....or they hide it better. I wouldn't be surprised if Zaza had a hip flask on the pitch though