MCC members set to challenge ICC

© Martin Williamson

It took quite some time for the queues outside the Grace Gates at Lord's to snake their way into the ground on the first three days of last week's first Test. It wasn't the much-maligned stewards refusing to allow anyone into the ground that was the problem, but the extra security presence and the need to check MCC members' picnic baskets.

While the examinations were fairly cursory and non invasive, all that might change in 2006 unless the MCC can overturn a global ruling from the ICC. Under new regulations, spectators will be banned from bring their own bottles and cans into grounds, although cynics are quick to point out that there will be no restrictions on buying alcohol and soft drinks, often at vastly inflated prices, once inside.

This could hit Lord's more than any ground, as there is a tradition of members bringing in their own lunches and accompanying wine and champagne. The Coronation Garden behind the Mound Stand turns into a picnickers haven during major matches, and last week it was crammed to the gills throughout.

Roger Knight, the MCC secretary, told The Times that he hoped the tradition would not end. "I don't know about other grounds in this country, but I am hopeful we will be given an exemption at Lord 's because people have been bringing bottles into the ground here since time immemorial."

Although Michael Bevan was struck by a can thrown from the crowd after a one-dayer in 2001, Lord's has an excellent record of crowd behaviour. It employs subtle ways of limiting alcohol intake, with bars shutting for periods during the afternoon, and staff sometimes taken away from serving at other times if there is a feeling that tempers are rising, leading to queues and a natural reduction in the amount consumed. MCC has also worked closely with the local community to ensure that post-match disruption is minimised.

Knight accepted that the ban would suit the MCC financially, but also pointed out that if the reason was to prevent cans and bottles being thrown onto the pitch, then there were any number of items on sale in the ground which could also potentially be considered missiles.

Robert Griffiths, a leading barrister and an MCC member, told The Times that he believed the ban could be challenged in court. "My view is that any ban would be unlawful in terms of being anti-competition as well as disproportionate," he explained. "If you prevent people from bringing bottles in, they are forced to buy drinks within the ground. Nor, at Lord's, is there an actual or present threat of people throwing bottles at players. Banning cans and glass bottles is disproportionate to any threat. I would also ask, `Where do you stop?' Wouldn't a spectator be able to take a mobile phone into the ground as that could be construed as a potential missile?"

But the ICC insists that the ban is nothing to do with trying to increase takings at bars within grounds and is simply an issue of security - but that cuts little ice with many members.

"Look at football ... the most common incidents involve throwing coins and phones," one MCC member told Cricinfo. "The ICC is so clearly in the pockets of the boards and the sponsors, and it is helping them to maximise profits by forcing spectators to buy overpriced drinks from in-ground bars. After they have banned drink, it will be food and we will be told that sandwiches and pork pies are lethal weapons."