Naturally the Daily Telly has a story on the brave club members who tackled the would-be thief.
I don’t think so. The clubs came into existence because Australia is sport mad.
However, my understanding is that it started out that sports clubs would sell a few beers to their members (a) well, yanno, so they could have beer, and (b) to raise a few dollars to support the team.
Selling beer required a liquor license but it was easy to get a sports club license since it was just a little community thing to raise a few bucks for sporting activities. It was far easier to get such a licence than it would have been to get a commercial license.
But slowly things have ramped up. Poker machines are also available to licensed venues. Not only that, but many sports clubs had a lot of land in very good locations that they were simply granted, again because originally they were just little community clubs. Surf lifesaving clubs for example often have (leased or owned) absolute beachfront land which is rare in Australia (the land immediately behind the beach is usually public park).
Now you have sports clubs that - as a consequence of the extreme profitability of running poker machines and selling alcohol - are absolutely massive enterprises with multiple bars, enormous gambling rooms, restaurants overlooking the ocean and so on. Oh, plus they have sport.
So the clubs weren’t set up to circumvent the law, but they have certainly taken every advantage of the privileges they have been granted as community organisations.
In Spain we have three similar species:
- any amateur sports club (single- or multi-sport) will have a bar, probably a restaurant as well.
- sports fans associations (peñas) often meet at a specific bar and may get “reserved” sessions, where you can’t get in unless you’re a member or invited by one,
- and peñas with more money will have a permanent meeting place, which can only be accesed by members or as a guest of a member, and which will include a bar.
Team imbibing is the second most popular sport in Spain; the most popular one is armchair sportswatching.
Even at University, we had several bars attached to university sports… the ‘Aths Pav’ (aka the athletics pavilion, which seemed to be a bar with changing rooms attached) and the rowing club, to name but two. Along with a bar attached to every hall of residence (12 in total) and the student union, which had three bars. It helps that the legal drinking age is 18 here, so virtually all students qualify.
Yep, drinking IS the British national sport.
Yep, when we played away we were encouraged to spend money at their bar in order to subsidise the running of their club, and other teams were encouraged to do the same for us. I don’t think most people needed much encouragement. It always seemed bizarre how two teams who, until an hour before, had been brawling and kicking the shit out of each other, would gather around in a dingy clubhouse bar drinking beer and eating scotch pies together with never any trouble.