Just when you thought Fifa couldn't find a new way to make attending a major tournament slightly more painful, they've gone and banned reusable water bottles from World Cup stadiums. The governing body confirmed the policy change, pointing to safety concerns as the reason behind the decision. Whether you find that convincing or not probably depends on how charitable you're feeling towards Fifa on any given day.
The timing is what really stands out here. This is a late change, which means fans who have been carefully planning their matchday experience — and let's be honest, attending a World Cup takes serious planning and serious money — are now having to rethink something as basic as staying hydrated. In what is expected to be a tournament played in warm conditions across the United States, Canada and Mexico, telling people they can't bring their own water bottle feels like a decision that needed a lot more thought before it was announced.
The safety argument is the one Fifa are leaning on, and presumably that relates to concerns about what bottles could be used for or how they could be weaponised in a crowd situation. That's not a completely absurd position when you think about large-scale event security, but it does feel like the kind of rule that punishes the overwhelming majority of perfectly decent fans because of a theoretical risk from a tiny minority.
What it also does, fairly predictably, is push fans towards buying drinks inside the stadium, where prices tend to be, shall we say, not exactly Tesco value range. Whether that played any part in the thinking is something only Fifa truly knows, and they're not exactly famous for transparency.
For supporters travelling from around the world and spending enormous amounts to be there, it's another small frustration stacked on top of what is already a very expensive trip. The football will still be brilliant, the atmosphere will still be electric, and people will still go. But it would be nice if the people running the sport occasionally made fans feel like a priority rather than an afterthought.
Let me know your thoughts.