Quote CW8="CW8"You could always sit away from the main supporters in a more neutral area. I was in the NW quadrant and it was fine up there. The south stand would be good and mostly neutral I suppose?'"
I think there will be drunks everywhere and for the neutrals there's even more reason to treat it just as a day on the lash.
I remember the 2013 final, I was near these two lads one of whom had a Marouane Fellaini wig, and his mate came up with the amusing chant "one fat Fellaini" for him, which had lost its humorous appeal by the 30th time his mate had stood up and turned around with his arms in the air while he chanted it. Fat Fellaini spent the first half of the game celebrating Warrington scores baiting the Wigan fans dotted around (it was a neutral area) with various hand gestures. Second half of the game, when Wigan came back, me and the other Wire fans near me had to put up with Fat Fellaini celebrating every Wigan try by climbing over the empty seats in front of us to stand in front of our row, spanking his own @rse and cawing like a monkey. Being as we were mostly families people just shook their heads resignedly but I can imagine what would have happened if some of the more lubricated less tolerant Wire fans were in the vicinity.
The Challenge Cup final never seems to be as bad, I think its because of the earlier kick off and also the extra effort and cost involved that puts off people who are just up for a reasonably cheap reason to have a mickey up. The best spirit seemed to be on the days when it was on the road at Cardiff and Edinburgh, those were great atmospheres and never had any trouble there.
Is there a reason for the Grand Final being 6pm kick off? It's not like it's after work on a week day or needing people to travel large distances to Manchester from RL heartlands? Greater Manchester Police would never allow City v United or United v Liverpool to kick off late and allow people to have drunk all afternoon.