[*They did that afterwards instead – and the parish priest often joined them too.]

Fans’ habits take a lot of breaking and football, in particular, has been slow to find ways to extend supporters’ dwell time on match days.  In recent times however, the sport has transformed the pre-match experience with fan zones, live entertainment, family activities, craft beer, street food and excellent partner activations.  After the game though, it still tends to behave as if it were Father O’Brien in 1979. ‘Off you go. See you next week.’

There will still be fans for whom the sacred pre-match ritual depends on ordering a pint of Guinness at the local hostelry at a time when most of us are already in our place in the stadium watching the players take the field. But for the majority these days, the pre-match experience can extend all the way back to 1pm. It’s become an expectation (and when a League One club can clear £10k at one game just on fan zone beer, it’s bad business practice not to do it afterwards too).

So it’s surprising that football does so little for fans immediately post-match. It’s almost as if clubs view this period as having a default setting of ‘disappointment’: even more surprising when so many games could be turned on their heads around 5.15pm (It took 132 minutes and 24 seconds to complete the match between Wycombe Wanderers and Stevenage in November).

Some stadiums have sports bars: making it easy to gather after the game and discuss the afternoon’s incidents of note. Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium appears to have been purposely designed to keep fans in but, for the majority of clubs, fans’ immediate post-game options are exclusively off-site.

Rugby clubs know that the end of the game heralds a chance to let its USP shine. Among other things, the players soon re-appear in the club house where they’re happy to chat with everyone about the game (regardless of the result).   

And that’s at all levels. My first rugby union game was in Sydney in (their) winter of 2012 when I saw Australia narrowly beat Wales on a sunny June afternoon. Shortly after the final whistle, there was another sound to announce that the public could walk on to the pitch, speak to players and play tag rugby.  The surreal nature of this sight to a football fan was amplified by the darkness that fell as the game ended.

When we were working for FIFA in Qatar at the men’s World Cup finals exactly a year ago, there was always plenty to do after the game.  Perhaps this was to stagger fans’ departure and to relieve the pressure on the newly-built metro system, but the wonderful entertainment had the effect of making staying on site the most natural thing to do.

In summer, a fan zone is a great way to spend the pre-match period, but why wouldn’t a fan zone tick all of the supporter’s boxes after a game at the height of winter? A few braziers to warm us up, some mulled wine, hot soup, live music, a few legends and squad players around and I’d not be home much before Match of the Day.

None of this is a risk nor it is illogical. It appears that the only barrier is cultural. ‘It’s what we’ve always done’ is perhaps unsurprising in an industry where it often appears that a finite group of CEOs just moves from one club to another on a seasonal basis.  We need fresh thinking.

Those old special socks, the only possible walking route and that last late pint could be mirrored by a whole host of new rituals that take place in or adjacent to the stadium.

Brazier suppliers, stand by!