BANNING the serving of alcohol at Perth Oval is not on the cards, says Town of Vincent Mayor Nick Catania, following recent public debate over alcohol-fuelled behaviour at major sporting events.
The stadium owner, Town of Vincent, will instead favour the State Government’s approach to slap heftier fines on people caught smuggling alcohol into sporting events at major stadiums.
Mr Catania said the service of alcohol at the ground – commercially known as ME Bank Stadium – was simply part of the entertainment of a sporting event and such a “controlled mechanism” needed to be kept.
“Any measure that is going to forbid or deter people from smuggling alcohol to sporting matches, we will absolutely support,” Mr Catania said.
“We are lucky in that we don’t have that many people running onto the ground but bigger fines will send a strong message.
“At the end of the day it all comes down to responsibility and responsible consumption but you have to provide a service that is part of the entertainment.”
Banning the service of alcohol could in turn result in a drop in attendance numbers at sporting matches, Mr Catania said.
Public debate on alcohol-fuelled behaviour at sporting matches was ignited last week when a drunken spectator ran onto the WACA during the one-day international between Australia and Pakistan, tackling one of the players.
The man was subsequently banned from the ground for life.
A spokeswoman for the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) said they were in discussions with Cricket Australia about the incident and could not comment.