An ardent cricket enthusiast proudly shared his experience of being ejected from the Boxing Day Test, all in the name of protesting against regulations prohibiting beer-skolling at cricket matches.
Jon Redman has taken a stand to revive this long-standing tradition, cherished by generations of Australian cricket fans. The practice, once even embraced by a former prime minister, involves rapidly downing a beer to the cheers of the crowd.
In a video uploaded just before the start of this year’s match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Redman declared, “Australia is facing a crisis. It’s not about the housing market or inflation—it’s the ban on beer-skolling at cricket matches.”
He reminisced about Bob Hawke, describing him as “one of the greatest prime ministers,” who famously skolled a beer at the cricket every year, much to the delight of onlookers. “If you attempt that now, you’ll be shown the door faster than you can blink,” Redman lamented. “What has happened to our country?”
As the Boxing Day Test approached, Redman expressed his determination to challenge this rule, hoping to restore the spirited tradition.
Cricket fan Jon Redman (pictured) has embarked on a campaign to bring back fans skolling beers at the cricket
Redman is pictured in a still from a video showing him being taken out of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG by police after chugging a tray of beers
Pictured: Another grab from the video showing Redman being led out of the ground by police while fans cheer
‘The Boxing Day Test starts next week and I want to put an end to this straight away.
‘I want to bring back the skol and I want to bring back the snake.
‘Kicking Australians out for drinking beer is un-Australian and I’m sick of it.’
Redman then posted a clip showing him skolling four beers from a tray as he stood near the fence at the MCG.
He salutes the crowd as he’s cheered on while downing his lagers in the footage, which is captioned ‘Getting arrested for my country’.
Redman is then seen being led out of the ground by police officers, one of whom appears to be filling out an infringement notice at the end of the video.
Victoria Police told the Daily Mail that 11 people were evicted from the ground on each day of this year’s Test for behavioural offences.
Redman’s campaign – which he’s publicising with the hashtag #Bringbackthescull – hit a nerve with many Aussies.
This beer-skolling fan was kicked out of the MCG during the Boxing Day Test in 2021
Former prime minister Bob Hawke impressed crowds at the cricket by drinking his beer at breakneck speed (pictured)
‘Welcome to Australia, where you get in trouble for having a good time,’ one wrote on Instagram.
‘Only in Australia can you be in trouble for the speed with which you drink a half strength beer. Sanitised loser country,’ a second said.
‘What has this country come to? Kicked out of [sic] drinking, can’t byob to sports anymore,’ another added.
‘FUN POLICE – there’s people having too much fun quick think of someway to disperse the crowd and fine the people having fun we can’t have that here this is Australia,’ wrote another.
Controversy over cricket fans being thrown out of grounds for skolling beers made headlines in 2021.
Fans who watched Australia win Ashes Tests at the Adelaide Oval and MCG were pictured being led out of the iconic grounds by security after drinking too quickly.
Videos of rowdy spectators on Adelaide Oval’s famed hill went viral as they encouraged anyone who walked past to finish their drink in one go.
That led to dozens of people being escorted out by security, with one man face-planting into the concrete after putting away his beer tray.
Pictured: Fans are kicked out of the MCG by security (in yellow) after building a beer snake during the 2022 Boxing Day Test
The ban on beer snakes didn’t stop fans from building one in Perth (pictured) during the first Test of this Ashes series
Similar pictures were broadcast from the MCG, with fans walking through the famous Bay 13 skolling beers.
One man in a Richmond Tigers singlet skolled three before police led him away, while another man was led away via the ground after polishing off two.
Victoria Police can make fans leave the MCG under section 84 of the Major Sporting Events act, which enables officers to evict anyone they believe is disrupting or interfering with other spectators or the match itself.
Former prime minister Bob Hawke – who once held the world record for skolling a yard glass of beer in 11 seconds – impressed cricket fans by downing his lager in one go on several occasions.
Hawke skolled for the crowd at the SCG when the Aussies played India in 2012, and did it again by chugging his beer in five seconds in Sydney during the Test against Pakistan in 2017.
Fans who construct ‘beer snakes’ by putting dozens of empty beer cups together have also been thrown out of stadiums in Australia.
It happened at the MCG in 2022, a fan actually stopped play by walking across the sight screen with his snake last December, and there were wild scenes involving beer snakes at the first Test of this Ashes series in Perth.
