[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
No suds, no grills WAILUKU >> Football fans at the Montana-University of Hawaii game on Maui won't be able to hold tailgate parties, fire up barbecues or drink beer in the stadium parking lot as fans do at Aloha Stadium on Oahu.
for Maui’s UH
football tailgating
Officials also say there will be
no alcohol served in the
stadium during the gameUH hopes history doesn’t repeat itself
By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comCounty officials also say no alcohol will be served inside the football stadium during the game.
Maui County sports commissioner Yuki Lei Sugimura described the football event as a "family game."
"I guess alcohol is a part of the game and part of the culture," she said. "But it certainly can't be as important as this game."
But alcohol and hot food will be served to some corporate sponsors at the nearby county baseball stadium before the game.
The situation has upset some fans.
Carol Gouveia, an official with Koa Anuenue sports scholarship club, said she received a telephone call from a man complaining about the ban.
"He was very upset because he had purchased tickets ... and he found out he cannot tailgate," Gouveia said. "I told him we have no control over that."
Tailgating parties including barbecuing and drinking beer have been a tradition at University of Hawaii football games on Oahu. A Maui ordinance forbids drinking alcohol in county park parking lots, and fire officials have declared that open burning -- barbecuing -- in the parking lot could pose a danger to people.
Sugimura said fans will be still able to have tailgate parties in the parking lot, they just can't barbecue or drink alcohol.
She said fans may also use their own barbecue grills and hibachi at a nearby little-league park and across the street at Keopuolani Park, but no alcohol consumption will be allowed in either area.
Saturday's event on Maui will be the first regular season UH game to be held on a neighbor island and the first in decades without pre-game barbecue smoke rising from the stadium parking lot.
Robert McCabe Jr., a Maui resident and Hawaii football fan, said he thinks Maui County lawmakers are "pretty old-fashioned."
McCabe said he remembers fans used to buy beer at the Maui baseball stadium and have tailgate parties in the parking lot (shared between the football and baseball stadiums) before baseball games for the Sting Rays of the old Hawaii Winter Baseball League.
"I think people are pretty responsible," he said.
Terry Chang, a university assistant athletic director, said the private party at the baseball stadium is to thank corporate sponsors for financially helping to offset the cost of the game.
Chang said the university holds similar private receptions during UH games at Aloha Stadium.
David Guffey, the assistant athletic director for media relations at the University of Montana said he was fairly confident Montana fans would find a way to get around the ban.
"Frankly, I can't believe Montana fans will go to a tailgate party and not drink," Guffey said. His understanding was that there will be a tailgate party at the nearby YMCA where Montana fans can barbecue and drink.
Sugimura said the county administration hopes to attract more sporting events in the future and will be assessing its policies, including its policy against barbecuing and alcohol consumption in the stadium parking lot.
"I don't want opportunities to be tarnished by something going wrong," she said. "This is an opportunity for Maui County to showcase ourselves. There are bigger issues here."
Maui police officials said those drinking in the football stadium or parking lot could be ejected from the event or arrested.
Conviction of the infraction is a petty misdemeanor punishable by less than a year in jail.
"They can be arrested and we have arrested people in the past," police Lt. Charles Hirata said.
Police plan to discourage people from going outside the stadium to have a drink during halftime by requiring those who leave and re-enter to pay for another full-price ticket.
Under Maui County ordinance, no drinking is allowed in the parking lots at county parks.
But unlike Oahu, drinking is allowed in most county parks, except for the little league park, Keopuolani Park in Kahului, and Kamehameha Iki Park and Malu'ulu'olele Park in Lahaina.
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